''What Is the Third Estate?'' (french: Qu'est-ce que le Tiers-État?) is a political pamphlet written in January 1789, shortly before the outbreak of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, by the French writer and clergyman Abbé

Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (3 May 174820 June 1836), usually known as the Abbé Sieyès (), was a French Roman Catholic '' abbé'', clergyman, and political writer who was the chief political theorist of the French Revolution (1789–1799); he also ...

(1748–1836). The pamphlet was Sieyès' response to finance minister

Jacques Necker Jacques Necker (; 30 September 1732 – 9 April 1804) was a Genevan banker and statesman who served as finance minister for Louis XVI. He was a reformer, but his innovations sometimes caused great discontent. Necker was a constitutional monarchi ...

's invitation for writers to state how they thought the Estates-General should be organized. In the pamphlet, Sieyès argues that the

third estate The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...

– 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 First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and second estates of the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

and aristocracy. Sieyès stated that the people wanted genuine representatives in the Estates-General, equal representation to the other two orders taken together, and votes taken by heads and not by orders. These ideas came to have an immense influence on the course of the French Revolution.

Summary

The pamphlet is organized around three rhetorical questions and Sieyès' responses. The questions and responses are: *''What is the Third Estate? Everything.'' *''What has it been hitherto in the political order? Nothing.'' *''What does it desire to be? To become something...'' Throughout the pamphlet, Sieyès argues that the first and second estates are simply unnecessary, and that the Third Estate is in truth France's only legitimate estate, representing as it does the entire population. Thus, he asserts, it should replace the other two estates entirely. The Third Estate bears the weight of the majority of tax.

References

External links

Excerpts from ''What is the Third Estate?''
Internet History Sourcebooks – Fordham University. Retrieved 9 January 2013. {{Authority control Political history of the Ancien Régime 1789 non-fiction books Pamphlets of the French Revolution

Summary

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References

External links