SOCIAL

The law said that they were three estates, although there were actually 5 “classes.” People’s rights were divided into these 3 estates, which comprised of maybe two or three classes. The first and second estate had many financial privileges, therefore the poor and poverty stricken third estate had to pay more in the long run than the richer second and first estate. Essentially, the richer people ended up paying a lot less tax than the poor peasants. This was very obviously unfair, and resulted in awful poverty. The biggest economical problem with the estates was the exemption of some taxes that some people in higher estates enjoyed.  A village in northern France issued a list of complaints to the government and one of their points was:

  “(We want) an end to the exemption that nobles enjoy from the taille and capitation.”

 Lots of people were incredibly unhappy with the system of estates, because it was very unfair, and took advantage of the fact that the peasants had no votes and were powerless, to make them pay more. This made peasants very angry. 

 THIRD ESTATES

The above table shows just how unfair the social system was. People in the first estate had their own law courts, and therefore were not tried in the same way as others. They were exempt from lots of taxes, even though they were the richest. The second estate was in between, exempt from some taxes, sometimes had their own law courts, and were given titles by the king. Peasants had to pay all their taxes, even though they were the poorest. In relation to the economics, the social system was incredibly unfair, and people were just completely exasperated with it, as they could not see the logic behind it. Because of the estates people thought society was very unfair. Predictably, the peasants and town workers of the third estate especially believed this, because they did not benefit from the estate system. In the middle ages, nobles had been soldiers who fought for France in wartime. The clergy, or the church runners, ran the country’s education and controlled religion. This was important work, and in return, the king gave nobles and clergy their own estates and their own privileges. But it was no longer the middle ages, and these important people were gradually becoming less and less important. This was yet another reason why French people thought that the system of estates was completely obsolete and unjust.  

  Money equals power. 

Without money, the peasants would never have power. Without power, they would never have money...