... people (everyone else, which included both peasants and the middle classes). The first and second estates were privileged in that they paid no tax at all, and for this reason, the monarch did not have a problem with their support: they were, in effect, propping up the Ancien Régime. The first and second estates also owned the larger proportion of land: although there were only 300 000 of them out of a total population of 25 million, they owned three fifths of the land in France. The excesses of the French Crown meant that the third estate was being crushed by the financial burden. They were taxed in almost every conceivable way to customs taxes. The punishments for tax offences were high. The high taxation and bad conditions of peasants gave them the incentive to do away with the Ancien Régime. In addition to this, the monarch exercised complete power ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now