Generalizations

France was broken up into 3 estates. The 3rd estate had almost no rights. It was made up of the peasants, the workers, and the bourgeoisie.

"What is the Third Estate? Everything; but an everything shackled and oppressed. What would it be without the privileged order? Everything, but an everything free and flourishing."
-Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès

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Life in France

• The people groaned under the burden of taxes
• Entire populations were reduced to beggary
• In the villages famine had become chronic
• Riots & massacres became part of everyday life

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No matter how unjust or how foolish the demands made upon the peasant, he had to submit. If he refused to pay, or perform a task, heavy fines were laid on him, and the officers of the law were soon at the door of his house to seize all that he owned, to hale him off to prison, to flogging, and, very often, to torture.

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The vast majority of peasants owned plots which were too small to support a family, and rented additional land. As a result, most of them were poor and only a few could afford to own a plough team.

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French Population: Late 18th Century

Generally speaking, people in 18th century France were extremely poor and unhappy.

Sources for Exerts

• The Great French Revolution- P. Kropotkin
• The Baldwin Project
• The French Revolution- Richard Cobb
• www.howstuffworks.com
• What is the Third Estate- Emmanuel Sieyes