They were expected to serve the Nation.
97% of the French population belonged to the third estate.
97 percent of the French population - Apex
96
The French middle class and peasantry belonged to the Third Estate during the French Revolution. The Third Estate was made up of commoners and included the majority of the French population who were not part of the nobility or clergy. Members of the Third Estate faced social and economic challenges that fueled their discontent with the monarchy.
The third estate held 97% [of which held 80% peasants] the Second estate held 1% and the First estate held 2%.
The third estate in pre-Revolutionary France was the commoners. This made up the majority of the French population. The first and second estate were the nobility and the clergy, who basically allowed the king whatever he wanted.
The three Estates were the First Estate which included the Catholic Clergy, the Second Estate which consisted of the French Nobles and the Third Estate which was the commoners who represented 95 to 97% of the population.
The Third Estate was comprised of 96% of the French population. Of that, 90% included 22 million peasants, laborers and artisans.
The divisions in society were referred to as the Estates. The first Estate was the clergy members. The second Estate was the nobility. Then finally the third Estate was everyone else. The first two Estates made up 3% of the population. The Third Estate made up 97% of the population. However, each Estate got one third of the say, meaning that the 3% of the population could out rule anything the Third Estate said. The divisions in society basically gave the Third Estate no right in government and when they became fed up, they fought back; leading to the French Revolution.
The First Estate was the clergy, about 1% of the population. The Second Estate was the nobility, about 2% of the population. The Third Estate was everyone else, about 97% of the population. King Louis XIV, King Louis XVI, and Marie Antoinette drained the French Treasury. The French gave too much financial aid to the American Colonists in their fight for independence from England. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette spent lavishly, thinking the Third Estate would foot the bill by paying higher taxes.
The Third Estate.
It was unfair for each estate to have one vote because the first and second estate would always out-vote the third estate, seeing they have more common interests. Moreover, the third estate encompassed 97% of the French population yet they only receive one vote in the Estate's General.