The Estates General

Background By 1787, France’s economy is in ruins for several reasons Lavish spending by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette Poor taxing policies Seven Years War (1756-1763) and the American Revolution (1775-1783)

King Louis XVI promises to call together the Estates General, which had not met since 1614 Hopefully this will solve France’s problems The Estates General is scheduled to meet on May 5th, 1789 at Versailles

Louis XVI, king of France

What Was the Estates General? This was a legislative assembly for the different French classes (Congress) The Estates General was made up of three classes Clergy-1st Estate Nobility-2nd Estate Bourgeoisie (peasants)-3rd Estate

Clergy By 1789, the 1st Estate (Clergy) was made up of 100,000 people Owned 5-10% of the land All property was tax-exempt

Clergy

Nobility The 2nd Estate (Nobility) was made up of 400,000 people Enjoyed the better government jobs Was also tax-exempt

Nobility

Bourgeoisie The 3rd Estate (Bourgeoisie, peasants) was made up of 25 million people The 3rd Estate paid all of the taxes This means the burden fell on France’s poorest Each Estate had one vote The 1st and 2nd Estates usually voted together

The 3rd Estate had to sit by themselves at the Estates General They had to wear black robes Had to enter the Estates General through a side door The 3rd Estate (98% of France) is getting fed up…