WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In the pamphlet, Sieyès argues that the third estate – the common people of France – constituted a complete nation within itself and had no need of the “dead weight” of the two other orders, the first and second estates of the clergy and aristocracy.

Detailed explanation-2: -Abbe Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes wrote the influential pamphlet “What is the third estate.” ‘What is the third estate’ was a political pamphlet which was written in January 1798 shortly before the “outbreak of the French Revolution".

Detailed explanation-3: -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.

Detailed explanation-4: -Whereas the King sought tax reform, the First and Second Estates sought to protect their power and privilege. The Third Estate wanted greater representation and greater political power to address issues of inequality. After weeks of dissent, no agreement was reached and the meeting of the Estates-General was disbanded.

Detailed explanation-5: -By Third Estate is meant all the citizens who belong to the common order. Anybody who holds a legal privilege of any kind deserts the common order, stands as an exception to the common laws and, consequently, does not belong to the Third Estate.