Chapter 2: The Three Estates – A Society Divided

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Chapter 2: The Three Estates – A Society Divided

2.1 The Pyramid of Power: Who Held the Crown?

Hook: In 18th-century France, your birth decided your fate. Imagine a world where 2% of people controlled 98% of the power!

Detailed Explanation:

  • The Three Estates System:
    A rigid social hierarchy where privileges were reserved for the clergy and nobility, while the majority (Third Estate) bore the weight of taxes and labor.
  1. First Estate (Clergy):
    • Role: Religious leaders (bishops, priests).
    • Privileges:
    • Owned 10% of France’s land.
    • Exempt from taxes like taille (land tax).
    • Collected tithes (10% of peasants’ income).
    • Hypocrisy: While lower priests lived modestly, bishops flaunted wealth akin to nobles.
  2. Second Estate (Nobility):
    • Role: Landowners with hereditary titles.
    • Privileges:
    • Collected feudal dues (e.g., corvée – forced labor on roads).
    • Held exclusive hunting rights, often trampling peasants’ crops.
    • Paid no taxes to the king.
  3. Third Estate (Commoners):
    • Composition:
    • Peasants (80%): Lived in poverty, paid taxes to king, Church, and nobles.
    • Bourgeoisie: Middle class (lawyers, merchants) – educated but denied political power.
    • Urban Workers: Laborers and artisans struggling with bread prices.
    • Burden:
    • Paid taille (direct tax), gabelle (salt tax), and taxes on everyday items like candles.
    • Starved during famines while nobles hosted feasts.

Visual Aid:
A pyramid graphic titled “France’s Social Volcano”:

  • Top (1st/2nd Estates): “We own 40% land, pay 0% taxes!”
  • Base (3rd Estate): “90% population, 100% suffering.”

2.2 Life in the Third Estate: Tears and Toil

Hook: “Work from dawn to dusk, yet my children cry for bread.” – A peasant’s lament.

Detailed Explanation:

  • A Peasant’s Day:
  • 4 AM: Work on noble’s fields (part of corvée).
  • Noon: Tend to own tiny plot; harvest seized as tithe.
  • Night: Repair hut, eat black bread, and sleep on straw.
  • The Bourgeoisie’s Frustration:
  • Educated professionals demanded meritocracy.
  • Example: A wealthy merchant paying taxes equal to a duke’s annual wine bill.

Key Terms:

  • Taille: Land tax on peasants.
  • Gabelle: Hated salt tax.
  • Bourgeoisie: Middle class fueling revolutionary ideas.

Quote:

  • “The Third Estate is everything, but it is treated as nothing.” – Abbé Sieyès, 1789.

2.3 The Spark: How Inequality Led to Revolt

Hook: When the poor have nothing left to eat, they eat the rich.

Detailed Explanation:

  • Taxation Without Representation:
  • Third Estate paid 50–60% income in taxes.
  • Nobles/clergy debated taxes in the Estates-General but never paid them.
  • The Final Straw:
  • 1788 hailstorm → crop failure → bread prices doubled.
  • Peasants starved; nobles hoarded grain.

Activity:

  • Math Connection: Calculate a peasant’s daily wage (15 sous) vs. bread cost (12 sous).
  • Debate: “Was revolution inevitable?”

2.4 Why Should You Care?

  • Modern Parallels: Income inequality today (e.g., billionaires vs. homeless).
  • Legacy: The Third Estate’s fight inspired movements like India’s independence struggle.

Chapter Activities

  1. Role-Play: Act as a noble, priest, and peasant arguing over taxes.
  2. Creative Task: Draw a comic strip titled “A Day in the Life of a Peasant.”
  3. Critical Thinking: Compare feudal France to modern social hierarchies.

Chapter Summary

  • Key Idea: France’s unfair social system made revolution unavoidable.
  • Important Terms: Tithes, Corvée, Bourgeoisie.
  • Timeline:
  • 1614: Last Estates-General before 1789.
  • 1788: Hailstorm triggers famine.

Sample Visual Page

Sidebar – Fun Fact:

  • Nobles wore silk shoes to avoid muddy streets, while peasants walked barefoot!

Infographic:

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