ht to wear a sword in public, and, mostimportantly, the exemption from taxes. The third estate could have been broken down intotwo categories. One was a new middle class that emergedduring the Louis XVI era, called the Bourgeoisie. Therest of the estate were poor peasants and artisans that -3-made up about ninety-six percent of France’s entirepopulation. The Bourgeoisise were highly educatedbankers and investors, or other business elites. Theymade their money in refining and processing plants,finance and insurance, and other advanced industries. A good share of the nation’s debt was due to theuneven taxation of the estates. The nobles were exempt from the main direct tax, or taille, as were the clergy. That meant most of the burden lay on the third estate,who also possessed the least amount of wealth. TheBourgeois were wealthy and were able to afford suchtaxation, but nonetheless, their aim was civil equalityand to destroy the tax privileges of the nobility andclergy. The peasants, too, were laden with extensiveamounts of taxation that was nearly impossible for themto pay. Burrowing France deeper into debt and economiccrisis was the persistent drought followed by massivestorms, ravaging the harvests of 1788. This accident ofnature had immeasurable consequences for France andtherefore, the rest of the world. About every economy ineighteenth- century Europe was dominated by agriculture1. Agriculture was needed to produce breads and cereals,the population’s staple diet, as well as for jobs of thepeasantry. The -4-land was the only source of wealth at this time; itaffected everyone. In the years before the revolution,production, prices, and rents rose continually2. Theinsufficient harvests did not always spark disaster forthe land owners and growers because it levitated prices,and therefore awarding producers with better profitsthan the years when there was an abundance of crop. Butthe effect of the unpre...
