The French Revolution
A Milestone Documents E-text
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Abstract

Prior to the outbreak of revolution in 1789, French society was divided into three estates, the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. Much of a person's civic life was determined by his or her estate. A rising professional class within the third estate found itself locked out of political power while shouldering most of the nation's tax burden. Social tensions mounted and were compounded by a fiscal crisis. Louis XVI realized that he needed to raise revenue and convened the Estates-General, which had not met since 1614. The Estates-General was an assembly comprised of elected representatives from each of the three estates. As the assembly began to take shape, the delegate Emmanuel Sièyes declared that the third estate alone was the true nation.

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