the third estate was made up of commoners.
the third estate was made up of commoners.
who was the third estate made up of?
commoners
the best known system is the french "ancien régime" (old regime), a three-estate system used until the french revolution (1789–1799). monarchy was for the king and the queen and this system was made up of clergy (the first estate), nobles (the second estate), and peasants and bourgeoisie (the third estate). in some regions, notably scandinavia and russia, burghers (the urban merchant class) and rural commoners were split into separate estates, creating a four-estate system with rural commoners ranking the lowest as the fourth estate. furthermore, the non-landowning poor could be left outside the estates, leaving them without political rights. in england, a two-estate system evolved that combined nobility and clergy into one lordly estate with "commons" as the second estate. this system produced the two houses of parliament, the house of commons and the house of lords. in southern germany, a three-estate system of nobility (princes and high clergy), knights, and burghers was used. in scotland, the three estates were the clergy (first estate), nobility (second estate), and shire commissioners, or "burghers" (third estate), representing the bourgeois, middle class, and lower class. the estates made up a scottish parliament.
estates of the realm
the women during the french revolution also fought for their own rights. aristocratic women were not as likely to partake in the activities that could ruin their family and/or their chance of inheriting the family fortune (or what she would receive), so they were reluctant to participate. working class women also faced this dilemma, but because they were already the suppressed class, the good of what they could achieve outweighed the loss of family pride and/or fortune. louis xvi had allowed all people who paid taxes to vote, but since women could not pay taxes, they could not vote. while the third estate made rules, women would present their opinions through pamphlets and petitions to let the third estate know what they wanted. "pétition des femmes du tiers-etat au roi" stated that women wanted education to go beyond french and latin for church, more jobs to be available to women, and to raise the max pay of 5-6 sous. "motion en faveur du sexe" and "discours préliminaire de la pauvre javotte" focused on dowries and marriage. in the working class, finding a job was hard enough for men, harder for women, and saving enough money to get married was almost impossible. women didn't want to have to pay a dowry to get married, this applied only in the third estate. "the rights of woman" by olympe de gou was a complete pamphlet that stated all the rights that women should have. it was copied almost word for word from the "declaration of the rights of man", but applied to women. a booklet ""griefs et plaintes des femmes mal mariées"" placed criticism on marriage laws oppressing women into submission to their male counterpart and demanded the legalization of divorce. in the sector of bourgeoises, madame etta palm van aelder was a leading figure in fighting to women's rights. she demanded for the equal right to an education, political freedom, divorce and legality of women of age 21 and over. while political freedom would not be gained until after the revolution, all other demands would be meet in some way. in august 1792, women of the age of 21 and above were given legal freedom from their parents. in september 1792, women were granted the right to divorce and the law of 1794 eased the divorce process. educational programs were advanced and allowed women to be trained for careers in the work field, but they still did not obtain equality. female teachers were paid less than males and primary school classes were divided by gender. by the end of the advancements and improvements in the educational system, the women weren't much better off than before.
uprisings led by women