Who were the Estates General of 1789?

The Estates General of 1789 was an assembly which represented France’s representatives from the three estates ; namely the First Estate which is the Clergy, the Second Estate which is the nobility and the Third Estate or the lower class.

They were summoned by King Louis XVI to deal with the financial and societal crisis happening in France. The Third Estate would end up breaking from royal authority and would later be called the National Assembly which would be the start of the French Revolution.

This would be the first time when France called for a meeting since 1614. The meeting was scheduled to be held on the 5th of May, 1789. Before that, the delegates of each of the Estates Generals would compile a list of grievances to present to the King.

Way back during the Fall of 1786, the king’s controller general, Charles Alexandre de Calonne proposed a financial reform package that would include a universal land tax wherein aristocrats would no longer be exempted.

France was experiencing bankruptcy by the end of the 18th century die to their costly involvement during the American Revolution. This was combined with King Louis XVI’s extravagant lifestyle, and the royal coffers would be depleted. Several years of poor harvests, inflation and heavy taxing would all ignite a famous revolution in history where the people would radically alter their political landscape, overthrow the monarchy and the feudal system.