USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -A majority of the population belonged to the third estate of commoners. These were the lawyers, merchants, businessmen and peasants. The nobility belonged to the second estate.

Detailed explanation-2: -Individuals in the 3rd Estate could be peasants, lawyers, laborers, or land workers who were toiling away on the lands of the Nobles.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Third Estate was made up of everyone else, from peasant farmers to the bourgeoisie – the wealthy business class. While the Second Estate was only 1% of the total population of France, the Third Estate was 96%, and had none of the rights and priviliges of the other two estates.

Detailed explanation-4: -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).

Detailed explanation-5: -This assembly was composed of three estates – the clergy, nobility and commoners – who had the power to decide on the levying of new taxes and to undertake reforms in the country. The opening of the Estates General, on 5 May 1789 in Versailles, also marked the start of the French Revolution.