Based on the perspective of the Third Estate, write a

persuasive editorial that would appear in a French newspaper

in 1789. Attacking Privilege and supporting Enlightenment.
Tierney
History 4-2
March 19, 2014
Page 6

Heading into the Light

Why is it that the people who work the hardest in French society, remain
the poorest? In our current society, the Third Estate has to provide food for
the First and Second Estates, as well as the Clergy and Royal Court. The
Third Estate makes up 98% of the population, yet we slave day after day in
the fields producing food that we may never get to eat. How could King
Louis XVI let our society become a form of modern-day slavery? Privilege
is a birth right, but only benefits two percent of our population. Privilege is
obviously not a privilege to the Third Estate since the rights only benefit so
few people. Privilege is an injustice. The French society needs to strive in
the direction of Enlightenment, in hope that one day all people in our society will have the same
rights.
Because of our family tree, the Third Estate is stuck day-after-day working to provide for
the rest of society. The King continues to raise taxes on us which puts even more stress on the
Third Estate to produce more food. How can we as an Estate continue to live in this unequal
society? Resisting the ideas of Enlightenment, because privilege is a tradition, is not justification
for the treatment we receive from the King. Yet, privilege only benefits the people of power, such
as the Clergy and the Royal Court. Of course, the First and Second Estate dont want to change
the system of privilege, since it would take away their power.
Equality for all is better than privilege for some. The Third Estate has no voice in voting
since voting is done by Estate and the First and Second Estate always vote the same as each other
on issues. Voting needs to be done per person, that way the Third Estate will be equal with the
other Estates. Also, if voting would be done per person, French laws would be more directed to
the common people. We the people of the Third Estate know about inequality and France needs
to head in the direction of equality.
Just as John Lock said, every person is entitled to life, liberty and property. We as the
Third Estate are entitled to these rights just like the other two Estates. How can we have the same
rights as the other two Estates when we dont have privileges like them? Privilege is creating an
unequal society between the Estates. Because the government is not giving the Third Estate our
natural rights we as a people have the given right to overthrow the government. Thinkers such as
Locke, Voltaire and Becarria have the ideas to help create a more equal society for everyone and
if we follow their lead, we will have equality.
Reason will help to set our County free from the constricting government that we have
right now. When France heads into the Enlightenment period, France will become more equal for
everyone, not only the privileged. The Enlightenment will help all people have the same rights,
and help the common people of the Third Estate rise to the top.