Third Estate

In the age of the French Revolution, the term third state indicated the generality of people which were not part of the nobility (the First State) nor of the clergy (the Second State). These terms came from the name of the french General States, a rough equivalent to the british Parliament but with no actual powers.

Since the representatives of the Third State actually came from the wealthy upper bourgeoisie, sometimes the term meaning has been restricted to the Middle-class, as opposed to the Working-class (also called the Fourth State).