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Because they were the only ones that had to pay sky high taxes while the 1st and 2nd estates didn't have to, because there was no freedom of speech, religion and press, because they wanted to be able to chose their own cabinet so a constitutional monarchy could be realized. The 3rd estate felt it wasn't right that they were the ones that had to pay up for the luxurious lives of the 1st and 2nd estate and the royal family.
This old regime had been designed by Louis XIV. He was also the King who had ordered Versailles to be build, which caused the treasury to be empty and eventually caused the bankruptcy of France. The 3rd estate had to fill the hole the debt had left in the treasury.
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JordanThe Third Estate took revolutionary action because they were suffering from the feudal system the most, especially since it composed of the vast majority of the population that suffered from all the royal levies that were intended to pay off national debt but funded short-sighted extravagance instead.
For a long time, the Third Estate had been unhappy. As the Third Estate grew in numbers and became more influential, they began to resent the special privileges that the nobles had and they didn't, such as exemption from taxation. They wanted a political voice and an abolition of the feudal system, which favored the lords based on tradition, which was completely irrational to them.
The turning point was when the king, Louis XVI, refused the Third Estate equal representation in the Estates General. When Louis XVI completely shut the Third Estate's representatives out of the meetings, the representatives met in a nearby tennis court and proclaimed themselves the National Assembly, taking matters into their own hands and starting the French Revolution.
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King Louis xvi refused to listen to the third estate?
Louis XVI was not a good leader and felt it was better not to lose the favor of the two smaller Estates. He denied a request by the Third Estate to have the votes counted by the head rather than the estate. As a result, the Third Estate saw they could not reason with the king and this opened the path to revolution.
Why did Louis XVI react so violently against the 3rd estate?
He didn't react violent at all. As a matter of fact he reacted very apathically. The third estate wanted to overtrow the monarchy (thus, Louis XVI as their king), and since he was an execellent king, he was also a weak one. He did not resist. The only thing he did do, was try to flee the country, but he was captured.
Which Estate did the bourgeoisie belong to?
The Third Estate was the estate in which the bourgeoisie belonged to.
First Second and Third Estates?
The Third Estate was the commons or the ordinary people, the First Estate being the clergy and the Second Estate the nobility .
Why does Sieyes believe that the Third Estate is the one that sustains socity and why does he later call the third estate the whole?
Abbe believes that the Third Estate has everything needed to govern and run the country, but is held back by the privileges of the nobles and clergy. He also believes that if there was no clergy or nobility, then the Third Estate could be so much more. The Third Estate provides all of France with the essentials (food etc.), whilst the other two Estates do not work nor pay taxes, simply 'sitting back' and letting the Third Estate do all the work. Also, the Third Estate already consists of 97% of the whole of France so if they were as privileged as the other two Estates, it could be the 'whole' of France. Abbe blames Louis for all of the Third Estates problems. They suffered many of these burdens due to his actions. For example, he made France go into war while already having financial problems. This resulted in more taxes (only paid by the Third Estate), and the peasants struggled to survive. He betrayed one of the ideals of the French Revolution, liberty. The Third Estate were allowed no freedom, even the bourgeoisie who were the privileged ones. Louis was charged guilty for high treason and executed by the guillotine.
