They voted by Estate, one vote per Estate. This meant that on tax questions the Third Estate (who paid all the taxes) would always be outvoted by the other two, which paid practically none of them.
The term Fifth Estate is any class or group in society other than the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), the commoners (Third Estate), and the press (Fourth Estate). It has been used to describe trade unions, the poor and organized crime. It can also be used to describe media that sees itself in opposition to mainstream (Fourth Estate) media. The term is different in origins and meaning from 'Fifth Column,' used to describe subversive or insurgent elements in a society. It's origins probably comes from the French Estates-General. And for all you bloggers out there, Media researcher Stephen D. Cooper argues that bloggers are the Fifth Estate.
The Third Estate. It represented 99 % of the population including the bougeoise, workmen and peasants. All of them had to pay taxes. The other two estates - the clergy and the nobility did not contribute to the budget, but through their privileges they did not pay taxes, their income and wealth came from others' labour and taxes and tolls.
They allowed all white men to vote. Sadly, African-Americans were still unable to vote.
42 have the right to vote but unfortunately not all of them use that wisely.
They voted by Estate, one vote per Estate. This meant that on tax questions the Third Estate (who paid all the taxes) would always be outvoted by the other two, which paid practically none of them.
They insisted that all three estates meet together and that each delegate have a vote. This would give the advantage to the Third Estate, which had as many delegates as the other two estates combined
King Louis XVI was plagued by the government's financial problems. The Estates-General sat for several weeks in May and June 1789 to decide wether they should vote by estate, giving the first two estates an advantage, which was the King's choice or vote all together, giving the the Third Estate the advantage. It was brought to an end when the Third Estate formed into a National Assembly. This decision was the outbreak of the French Revolution.
It was called to deal with Economics and was converted by the Third Estate as a call for an end to the absolute Monarchy and a call for representation in the government.
In the National Assembly in France during the time of the French Revolution, as you know was separated into three estates. The first estate consisted of the clergy who were hardly taxed and enjoyed many privileges. The second estate was filled with nobles so high class citizens. They too paid next to no taxes and had dominance over the third estate. The third and final estate consisted of commoners, anyone from bankers to peasants were unfairly categorized and bundled up into this single heap of French citizens. This group of people would pay almost all of the taxes in France and owned the majority of the total land in France. Now in the National Assembly each estate would get one vote. The first and second estates would team up and had authority over the third estate, unfairly dominating and suppressing the views and values of the third estate.
Because the third estate was 90% of all citizens, so it would definitely win if the estates voted per person. The first and second estate were against, and the nobles knew that if they let each estate vote only once, they would get their way. It was 2 against 1.
The French Estates General was made up of three main groups. This first Parliament consisted of the First Estates of clergy, the Second Estate of nobility, and the Third Estate of commoners.
There were 3 estates: the third estate was the bourgeoisie. They represented 97% of all inhabitants of France. There other two estates (the first and second) were the nobility and the clergy (the representatives of the church).
The estates of society were established in the Middle Ages as the way the world was ordered. The king or queen held a position above all the estates. The first estate was the church and the clergy. The second estate was the nobility or ruling class. The third estate was the common people. As you note, the fourth estate emerged as the public media.
Before the Revolution in France : The Estates-General consisted of three estates :the Clergy (about 100,000 people), the Nobles (about 400, 000 people) and all the others (about 96% of the population) belonged to the Third Estate.
During the reign of King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792), the first two estates enjoyed a significantly greater degree of privilege than the third, despite the Third Estate representing more than 90% of the French population and paying almost all taxes.
I believe the first estate are the religious people, the clergy if you will. The second estate were all the Aristocrats, Nobles and Merchants, and the third estate contained everybody else like the workers and commoners.