Estates General

The document summarizes the three estates of pre-revolutionary France. The First Estate consisted of the clergy and church hierarchy who owned 10% of the land and were exempt from taxes. The Second Estate was the aristocracy or nobility, who were also exempt from most taxes and owned 25-33% of the land. The Third Estate included the majority of the population: the bourgeoisie, peasants, urban laborers, and poor. The Third Estate faced poverty, overtaxation, and lacked social and political privileges compared to the First and Second Estates, contributing to the grievances that led to the French Revolution.