AP World History – ‘What is the Third Estate?’                                                                                                             Rosenbaum

After reading the handout titled ‘What is the Third Estate?’, by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, answer the following questions. Caution....You may have to THINK!!!

1)      Sieyès asks the reader to ask themselves three questions. Why do you think he took this approach?

2)      Would you say these questions are those of hope, or desperation? Why?  

3)      Sieyès first breaks down ‘individual efforts’ into four classes. What is the purpose of his ranking? 

4)      His ‘first class’ would be those involved in agriculture, in general. Why? 

5)      His description of the ‘second class’ involved production. Is this class important? 

6)      Sieyès described the ‘third class’ as ‘useful both to producers and consumer’. Why? 

7)      Sieyès sets the ‘fourth class’ aside by writing on ‘useful citizens’. Explain.

8)      When Sieyès begins to write about public functions, he refers to ‘....a prohibition upon the order....’ of the Third Estate. What is he expressing? (Don’t skimp...detail is important!) 

9)      Carefully read the paragraph where Sieyès wrote ‘....is it not well known that it tends to render less able those whom it favors?’ What does this paragraph, and this particular statement, mean? 

10)   In writing about the government, Sieyès states, ‘...places have been created not on account of the necessities of the governed, but in the interests of the governing...’ Explain.  

11)   Sieyès states, ‘...that without [it] the superior places would be infinitely better filled; that they naturally ought to be the lot and the recompense of ability and recognized services...’ What does this paragraph, and this particular statement, mean? (Don’t skimp...detail is important!)

12)   Near the end Sieyès states, ‘...it is a stranger to the nation, in the first place, by its origin, since its commission is not derived from the people; then by its object, which consists of defending not the general, but the particular interest...’ What does this particular statement mean?