French Revoluton
Events
The Estates General

      Robespierre was in the third estate general. He was in a black woolen suit with a black silk cloak and a white muslin cravat. But whether other third estate delegates were wearing the same outfit was not indicated.

Everyone carried a candle, except for the standard bearers and King? falconers, who carried their birds on their fists.
The King, was in his full dress, wearing a mantle of cloth of gold and with the "Regent" diamond in his hat, surrounded by the high officers of the crown. He was widely applauded.

But when Marie Antoinette appeared in her dress sprinkled with gold and silver there was absolutely silence. She tottered and grew pale. She kept murmured to herself, "it is nothing?othing."

The Estates General
 French society was split into three separate groups called estates. These different groups, together called the Estates General, met at irregular intervals for the purpose of contributing to the government of France. The last meeting of this group was in 1614, and thus when Louis XVI called a meeting of it for May, 1789, there was considerable excitement and apprehension. What would this meeting do for France?

The First Estate was composed of the clergy which possessed vast wealth through the extremely prominent Roman Catholic Church in France. They had control over censorship of the press and of educational institutions. This group was also split into two different sections: the bishops and abbots, who were wealthy and had authority in the church, and priests and monks who had modest incomes and had little say in church affairs.

The Second Estate was made up of the nobility who owned 20% of all land in France and were not taxed by the government. These wealthy, essentially carefree, land-owning aristocrats had been joined by former very wealthy bourgeois who had bought judgeships in a high law court. By this time, most political positions were held by members of the Second Estate.

The Third Estate was made of the commoners of France. Bourgeois (middle class), artisans, and peasants all fell into this category. This estate had as many delegates as the other two estates combined, but these numbers did not help them in voting on issues since the voting conducted by estates, not by individuals. The other more wealthy and prominent estates often had different opinions than the Third Estate, which usually led to the Third Estate's loss in the voting. The Third Estate fought with the other two estates on voting issues at Versailles during their meeting at Versailles in 1789. Once the King ordered the three estates to meet as a new National Assembly and vote by head, the Estates General as such ceased to exist, and power began to shift away from the privileged orders to the leaders of the Third Estate.