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What is the Third Estate?
QUESTION
Read "What is the Third Estate" by Sieyes and answer the following question in 1-2 paragraphs. You can click "Write Submission" and enter your response in the dialog box or upload it as a text document (make sure it it is Microsoft Word compatible - no "Pages" or "google docs" please.
How does Sieyes describe the Second and Third Estates -- what is the difference between them?
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Answer
Sieyes’ Views about France’s Second and Third Estates
Not a single document had a greater effect upon the French Revolution compared to What is the Third Estate’? by Emmanuel Sieyes. Published in 1789, the pamphlet summarized the political grievances of common people, functioning as a tool for pushing for reforms at the Estates-General. During the early France and late medieval periods, Estates-General, a representative body that functioned to rubber-stamp the king’s decisions, divided representatives who went to it into three: the First Estates (comprised of the clergy), the Second Estate (comprised of the nobility), and the Third Estate (everyone else or the common people of France) (Beik, 1970). Thus, the Third Estate was a larger percentage of the population compared to the other two estates. However, despite being the majority of the society, in Estates-General, the Third Estates had only a single vote, just like the other two estates each (Sieyès, 1789). This made the Third Estates demand more voting power and more rights.
Similarly, the representatives who went to the Estates general were not drawn evenly across the French society: they often tended to be the well-to-do nobles and clergy, like the middle class (Beik, 1970). According to Sieyès, the Third Estates comprised a whole and complete nation in itself and needed not the “dead weight” of the other two estates of the first and second estates of the aristocracy and clergy. Sieyès argued that the people, the common French people, needed genuine representatives in Estates-General, equal representation to the estates taken together, and votes taken not by orders, but by heads (Sieyès, 1789). Sieyès’ ideas had great influence upon the French Revolution’s course. Sieyès contends that the First and Second estates are merely needless, and that the Third Estate is the only true and legitimate France’s estate since the estate represents the whole French population. Thus, he argues that the First and Second Estates should entirely be replaced since the Third Estate bears France’s majority of tax.
References
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Beik, P. H. (1970). January, 1789: Sieyès, What Is the Third Estate? In: Beik P.H. (eds) The French Revolution. The Documentary History of Western Civilization. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00526-0_5 Sieyès, E. J. (1789). What is the Third Estate? Retrieved 08/02/2020 from https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/45204012/Emmanuel_Sieyes__What_is_the_Third_Estate_Explanation_Mansfield.pdf?1461948813=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DEmmanuel_Joseph_Sieyes_What_is_the_Thir.pdf&Expires=1612776042&Signature=V-1gxXBpFg7WheNwib45NU8swEVwWpyj3XVCS3Baszxu5nolniOG1FoJs4fsaSD~Yrh40duhcZr4IMJ-chlajkC~zQP6gfXjGjWukNMZiGNGCtIjEpJgLfB3foztIJkpF2F7qzXoFMbdOsvN7zVrEexSd6KDaz9KguBUC~J4remAHo56qeW6~bPm7O-mn-1~dklFNJgRw8NKZ7eJvpjy7eVghQq62SQSS0kHrdJ7cCt1sCJxqtez285RSF-COJZyxuoMqT--FnAP0hEm754ND-80HdRVZkIZIP8gVJzPA4C-F4R8b5eafCOD7CgFrGHsGxMZxg12DcuOtBrXz4o7Vw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
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