Two effects of the lack of representation of the Third Estate in the Estates-General:
- separation of the third estate from the Estates-General
- formation of the first National Assembly
Context/explanation:
Under the old, existing rules for the Estates-General, each Estate got one vote in the overall decisions of the Estates General. The 1st Estate (clergy) would get 1 vote, the 2nd Estate (nobility) would get 1 vote, and the 3rd Estate (all others, commoners), would get 1 vote. So even if the 3rd Estate were granted a greater number of overall delegates, in the end it wouldn't matter. The clergy and nobility would collude with one another to maintain their hold on power. The members of the 3rd Estate, though they were 98% of the population, thus would get outvoted.
King Louis XVI was forced to convene the Estates-General in 1789 because his government was facing potential bankruptcy of finances. In the build-up to the meeting of the Estates-General, the 3rd-Estate demanded that their representation be doubled. That request was granted, with the king and nobles and clergy knowing that the system would still favor the first two Estates. But the 3rd Estate delegates at the Estates General in 1789 demanded that voting be by head count of all delegates, rather than just one collective vote per house. That way the 3rd Estate would have enough delegate votes to sway decisions. That request was opposed by the king and the first two Estates. So the 3rd Estate separated itself from the rest of the Estates-General and declared itself to be the National Assembly, because it represented the vast majority (98%) of the nation's people. And thus the French Revolution began.
