Question

Give a brief description of the third estate.

Answer 1

(i) The third estate was on the last rung of the French society. This estate was constituted of 'big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers, peasants, artisans, landless labour and servants.
(ii) However, peasants made up about 90 per cent of the population and only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated.
(iii) The members of this estate had no political rights and social status. They were always under the burden of taxes. Here, it is worth mentioning that within this state one could see gross disparities. Some were very rich while others were very poor.
(iv) The rich, i.e. big businessmen, merchants, professionals etc. had access to education but the poor were always worried about their existence. They were victims of food scarcity.