Third Estate In French Revolution
At the beginning of the French Revolution, France had been the center of much unrest. With the king’s failure to satisfy the majority of the French population, the unrest led to the revolt against French monarchy. The systems that failed to treat the members of the third estate as equals to the members of the first two led to the French Revolution, which was ultimately successful in what it set out to achieve. The systems in place prior to the French Revolution led to much of the unrest in France. With the social Estate system, 98% of the French population (the third estate) was treated unfairly by the the other two estates. This included paying the majority of France’s taxes. The third estate was greatly upset with this system, as they viewed it as a violation of their natural rights. However, they couldn’t do much to change it as the king made and controlled all the laws under the absolute monarchy. They knew to get anything done they would have to change the political system in place. The estate system also drew a divide between the first two estates and the third, as the third estate grew more upset with the first two and the first two continued to ignore the third estate’s problems.
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Many of the people who were pro-revolution were members of the third estate or already sympathizers of the third estate, such as Robespierre, Marat, Danton, and Camille Desmoulins. Likewise, many of the figures that were anti-revolution, such as Louis XVI and the Catholic Church, were not only from the first two estates, but symbolic of them as well (the second estate and the religious first estate, respectively). This shows just how great the divide between the estates was, as they were very little members of the first two estates who were pro-revolution and practically no members of the third estate were
Many of the people who were pro-revolution were members of the third estate or already sympathizers of the third estate, such as Robespierre, Marat, Danton, and Camille Desmoulins. Likewise, many of the figures that were anti-revolution, such as Louis XVI and the Catholic Church, were not only from the first two estates, but symbolic of them as well (the second estate and the religious first estate, respectively). This shows just how great the divide between the estates was, as they were very little members of the first two estates who were pro-revolution and practically no members of the third estate were