Abstract
The Estates General was the nearest body the French had to democratic representation. It consisted of the First Estate—the clergy, the, the Second Estate, the nobles, and the Third Estate, the bourgeoisie. Before the year of revolution of 1789, the last time it had been summoned was in 1614. At the meeting in 1789 the parties failed to come to an agreement and the Third Estate broke the deadlock by taking the initiative and constituting itself as the National Assembly, thus identifying itself with the entire nation and claiming the power to recast the constitution.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
De Staël, M. (2000). The Beginnings of the Revolution (1789-1791). In: Selected Correspondence. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4283-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4283-0_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5856-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4283-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive