The Hierarchy | Causes of the French Revolution

The Hierarchy

So  in France during the build up to the revolution, there was not very much equality to go around. The population was divided up into 3 estates, each with different power and wealth. At the top of the hierarchy was the first estate, then second, and lastly third. 

THE FIRST ESTATE was the clergy. They were people, including priests, who ran both the Catholic Church and some aspects of the country, as well as keeping register of births, deaths and marriages. The clergy also had the power to levy a 10% tax known as the thithe. They owned 10% of land, and were in rival with priests. They had the most power.

THE SECOND ESTATE was the nobility of France, including the members of the royal family (not including the king). They did not have to pay many taxes (and many refused to) , and had privileges such as wearing a sword and hunting. Like the clergy, they collected taxes from the third estate. They earned 500-20,000 livres per year (that's approx. £540-21,580) 

THE THIRD ESTATE was everybody else. From peasant farmers to the wealthy business class, the third estate made up 96% of France's population, while the second estate only made up 1%! They had none of the rights or privileges. This was made up of 3 groups:
THE MIDDLE CLASS had lots of money, but had to no power or political say. They had some of the best jobs and wanted equality.
THE URBAN POOR lived in hard conditions on dirty streets. They had insecure jobs and often went hungry.
THE PEASANTS had no land, no money, or food and couldn't work.

Historians  believe that one of the reasons for the French Revolution was because the third estate wanted more distribution of power and wealth.