Estates-General

(noun)

A general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobles (Second Estate), and the common people (Third Estate).

Related Terms

Examples of Estates-General in the following topics:

  • Calling the Estates-General

    • The Estates-General (or States-General) of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobles (Second Estate), and the common people (Third Estate).
    • But French society had changed since 1614, and these Estates-General were not like those of 1614.
    • On May 5, 1789, the Estates-General convened.
    • The Estates-General ceased to exist, becoming the National Assembly.
    • Painting by Auguste Couder showing the opening of the Estates-General, ca. 1838.

  • Establishment of the National Assembly

    • The Estates-General, convoked by Louis XVI to deal with France's financial crisis, assembled on May 5, 1789.
    • Its members had been elected to represent the estates of the realm: the First Estate (the clergy), the Second Estate (the nobility) and the Third Estate (the commoners) but the Third Estate had been granted "double representation" (twice as many delegates as each of the other estates).
    • After Louis XVI's failed attempts to sabotage the Assembly and to keep the three estates separate, the Estates-General ceased to exist, becoming the National Assembly.
    • , which was a response to finance minister Jacques Necker's invitation for writers to state how they thought the Estates-General should be organized.
    • Sieyès stated that the people wanted genuine representatives in the Estates-General, equal representation to the other two orders taken together, and votes taken by heads and not by orders.

  • The Storming of the Bastille

    • On May 5, 1789, the Estates-General convened to deal with this issue, but were held back by archaic protocols that disadvantaged the Third Estate (the commoners). 
    • On June 17, 1789, the Third Estate reconstituted themselves as the National Assembly, a body whose purpose was the creation of a French constitution.
    • On July 11, 1789, with troops distributed across the Paris area, Louis XVI, acting under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council, dismissed and banished his finance minister, Jacques Necker, who had been sympathetic to the Third Estate.
    • The Parisians generally presumed that the dismissal marked the start of a coup by conservative elements.
    • The partisans of the Third Estate in France, now under the control of the Bourgeois Militia of Paris (soon to become Revolutionary France's National Guard), had earlier stormed the Hôtel des Invalides without meeting significant opposition.

  • Efforts at Financial Reform

    • Anne Robert Jacques Turgot was appointed Controller-General of Finances in 1774.
    • In 1777, Jacques Necker was made director-general of the finances as he could not be controller because of his Protestant faith.
    • He put a stop to the rebellion in the Dauphiné by legalizing its assembly and then set to work to arrange for the summons of the Estates-General of 1789.
    • He advocated doubling the representation of the Third Estate to satisfy the people.
    • The joy was general in Paris, where Calonne, accused of wishing to raise taxes, was known as Monsieur Déficit.

  • The Ancien Regime

    • This system was made up of clergy (the First Estate), nobility (the Second Estate), and commoners (the Third Estate).
    • Some commoners were able to marry into the Second Estate, although that was very rare.
    • Despite regional differences and French peasants' generally better economic status than that of their Eastern European counterparts, hunger was a daily problem and the condition of most French peasants was poor.
    • Caricature on the Third Estate carrying the First and Second Estate on its back, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
    • France under the Ancien Régime (before the French Revolution) divided society into three estates: the First Estate (clergy); the Second Estate (nobility); and the Third Estate (commoners).

  • Taxes and the Three Estates

    • France under the Ancien Régime (before the French Revolution) divided society into three estates: the First Estate (clergy); the Second Estate (nobility); and the Third Estate (commoners).
    • The tax was generally "personal," which meant that it was attached to non-noble individuals.
    • In the "pays d'état" (provinces with provincial estates), the assessment of the tax was established by local councils and the tax was generally "real," which meant that it was attached to non-noble lands (nobles possessing such lands were required to pay taxes on them).
    • Caricature showing the Third Estate carrying the First and Second Estates on its back, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, c. 1788.
    • The tax burden, therefore, devolved to the peasants, wage-earners, and the professional and business classes, also known as the Third Estate.

  • Lab 1: Confidence Interval (Home Costs)

    • Check the Real Estate section in your local newspaper.
    • In two to three complete sentences, explain what a Confidence Interval means (in general), as if you were talking to someone who has not taken statistics.

  • The Rise of the Nobility

    • Gone were the days when generals protracted war at the frontiers while bickering over precedence and ignoring orders from the capital and the larger politico-diplomatic picture.
    • In the political system of pre-Revolutionary France, the nobility made up the Second Estate (with the Catholic clergy comprising the First Estate and the bourgeoisie and peasants in the Third Estate).

  • The Federal Tax System

    • State taxes are generally treated as a deductible expense for federal tax computation.
    • Property tax is generally imposed only on realty, though some jurisdictions tax some forms of business property.
    • Estate and gift taxes are imposed by the federal and some state governments on property passed by inheritance or donation.

  • Class

    • The British aristocracy is an instance where wealth, power, and prestige do not necessarily align--the aristocracy is upper class and generally has significant political influence, but members are not necessarily wealthy.
    • The British aristocracy is an instance where wealth, power, and prestige do not necessarily align — the aristocracy is upper class and generally has significant political influence, but members are not necessarily wealthy.
    • Contemporary sociological concepts of social class often assume three general categories: a very wealthy and powerful upper class that owns and controls the means of production; a middle class of professional or salaried workers, small business owners, and low-level managers; and a lower class, who rely on hourly wages for their livelihood.
    • For example, the income and education level of parents can be compared to that of their children to show inter-generational class mobility.
    • In this political cartoon, the Third Estate (commoners) is carrying the other two on its back.