Social Class During The French Revolution

During the 1700s, France’s government was run by a three system estate system. The First Estate was made up by the powerful clergy members, while the Second Estate was made with nobles. Peasants and working men made the Third Estate, also the largest estate. In this large estate there was a little class named the Bourgeoisie was a part of the Third Estate. Though the Bourgeoisie was highly educated and always had stable professions, they were not set aside from the peasants. The Third Estate was treated very poorly during the 1700s. Life was not suitable for the working class. The mistreatment and inequality led to the French Revolution. Inequality during this time period meant that things were not the same throughout each class. Unequal power between the estates, abuse of the Third Estate, and the taxes and price raises were the three reasons that outweighed the many political, social, and economic factors that led to the French Revolution.

In the 1700s, France had a social and political system that divided the people into three social classes: the first estate, the second estate, and the third estate. The first estate consisted of the Roman Catholic Church’s clergy and made up one percent of France’s population. The second estate was made up of rich nobles and represented two percent of France’s population. The remaining ninety-seven percent of France’s population fell under the third estate. The third estate was also divided into three categories: the bourgeoisie, the workers in France’s cities such as tradespeople, apprentices, or laborers, and the peasants. The peasants formed the largest category in the third estate and made up eighty percent of France’s entire

In the late 17th Century, the French Revolution began. The French Revolution was a rebellion of the third estate against the inequality and injustice of the social classes. The high economic gap and social inequality led to reforms such as the drafting of the Declaration of Rights for Men and the Tennis Court of Oath. One of the main factors that led to the French Revolution is the economic gaps between the rich and the poor.

During the 18th century, the flow of Enlightenment ideas helped spark many political movements. The French Revolution refers to a period in which citizens call for reforms due to the political, economic and social differences between them and the monarchy. The absence of political representation and empathy from the nobility, the financial crisis and the desire for equality between all the classes inspired the people of France to start a revolution. In France, the third estate had almost no political representation while the first and second estate had totally power over everything that happened.

In France, the social classes consisted of three estates: First, Second, and Third. The First Estate consisted of the clergy (religious officials), who were considered the highest on the social ladder. They only consisted of .5% of the population yet were the most powerful (Doc. 2). The Second Estate were 1.5% of the population and consisted of nobles who held the top jobs of government, army, and courts (Doc. 2). Finally, The Third Estate were 98% of the population and consisted of the bourgeoisie, or the middle class, and peasants (Doc. 2). When the Estates

There are very few members in the first and second estates, yet they owned the most land, while the third estate made up most of the population, yet owned very little land. “First: Clergy - 1% of the people owned 10% of the land. Second Estate: Nobles - 2% of the people owned 35% of the land. Third Estate - Middle class, peasants, city workers 97% of the people owned 55% of the land.” (Document 2) There were high prices, high taxes, and people were listening to enlightenment ideas. Louis XVI decided to tax the Second Estate. They called a meeting of the Estates-General - an assembly of representatives from all three estates. (ROI) In addition, as a political cause, the third estate had no privileges or say in the government,while both the clergy and nobles did. As mentioned before, the inequality of taxes proved another gap in the social classes. “The Revolution had been accomplished in the minds of men long before it was translated into fact.... The middle class...was sensitive to their inferior legal position. The Revolution came from them-the middle class. The working classes were incapable of starting or controlling the Revolution. They were just beginning to learn to read.” (Document 4) Estates- General was the first such meeting in 175 years. Met on May 5th,1789 in Versailles. In the Estate- General each estate had one vote. (ROI)

The establishment of the National Assembly that integrated different classes of people into one government signifies the growing public voice in political arena as citizens urged an end to hunger and unfair taxation system. Ever since King XVI summoned the Estates General to tackle the problems of food shortage and economic crisis, the Third Estate, who represented every French except the clergies and the nobles, has been constantly demanding for more voting rights to make people’s hardship known to the king and the other two estates. They thus assembled lists of grievances from citizens throughout France which called for a limit to

By 1789, France was on the brink of revolution, due to the problems caused by the Estate Structure, Money, Bad Harvests, the Estates General and the National Assembly. This all resolves around the huge differences between the classes of people during the 18th century, while the Clergy and Nobles were enjoying a life of privilege and money, the peasants and bourgeoisie were suffering from hunger and unemployment.

“Meanwhile the growth of commerce and industry had created, step by step, a new form of wealth, mobile or commercial wealth, and a new class, called in France the Bourgeoisie,” (Lefebvre 104). Due to the increasing gap between the first two estates and the working class, a type of ‘upper lower’ class had emerged from the poverty called the Bourgeoisie. The Bourgeoisie were a group of wealthy merchants that ran the lower estate and were willing to make changes to their government. They made their money buying and selling goods, but resented the extreme amount of taxes they were subjected to. On the other hand, the first estate held certain privileges that the third estate could not receive due to their status as the church.

America is not perfect. This being said, however, the ever changing ideals, and values addressed in the colonies post revolution, continue to set America apart from any other country. The American revolution existed in attempts to create a relationship between social classes that that no other country on historical record had ever done to the colonists extent. As slavery did proceed, and the difference between social classes was still at large, the idea of the rich and poor coexisting, and working together was an initiative that would continue in America’s attempts to become a better, more individualized country. Flaws aside, however, the overall confederacy of the colonists, and their continual work against a single government for a common

The French Revolution was a time of great social, political and economic tumult in the closing years of the Eighteenth Century. The motivators pushing French citizenry toward revolution are varied in scope and origin. They range from immediate economic woes to an antiquarian class structure. Modern historians still debate the value of the changes that the revolution brought to modern society. The middle class made gains that would never be rescinded, but do revolutions always end in tyranny? In the years before the revolution citizens were rigidly constrained by the estates of the realm. These social strata had been in place since the medieval ages. The people were divided into three groups; clergy, nobility and everyone else. The clergy

Bankers, merchants, manufactures, lawyers, doctors, journalists, professors, and rural peasants were only some of the people categorized into the section, but among the poorest members of the Third Estate were urban workers. Although within the Third Estate, some people were able to afford political office but the best jobs were still reserved for the Nobles. Informed by Alexis De Tocqueville’s The Old Regime and the Revolution, the Third Estate was the most important because they obtained the responsibility of a working class. Those within the third estate supplied all of France with labor resources as their working wages payed for the expenses made by either the Clergy or the Nobles.

Social Inequality was a major contribution to the nature of the French Revolution. Social unrest was rampant between the three estates due to the major gap between the classes. While the clergy made up half of a percent of the population, they owned ten percent of the land. The nobles held thirty percent of the land, while only making up one percent of the population. Meanwhile, the peasants were the majority, oppressed by the government and forced to pay all of the taxes, despite the income inequality.

Discussion and comparison of the three social classes prior to the French Revolution There existed three classes of people in France before the French revolution took place. The first class of people consisted of the Monarch and church leaders. The second class was the aristocratic class of people and the last class consisted of the bourgeoisie, peasants as well as land owners. These three classes had different role, expectations and living situations that were quite different among them.

Revolution? The major cause of the French Revolution was the disputes between the different types of social classes in French society. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was one of the most important events in the history of the world. The Revolution led to many changes in France, which at the time of the Revolution, was the most powerful state in Europe. The Revolution led to the development of new political forces such as democracy and nationalism. It questioned the authority of kings, priests, and nobles. The Revolution also gave new meanings and new ideas to the political ideas of the people.<br><br>The French Revolution was spread over the ten year period between 1789 and 1799. The primary cause of the revolution was the disputes over