They consisted of the bourgeoisie, the sans-culottes and the peasants; they paid high taxes and had no special privileges.

• A. First Estate
• B. Second Estate
• C. Third Estate
• D. Peasants

Answer: (C)

In prerevolutionary France, society was divided into three estates. The Third Estate included the bourgeoisie, the sans-culottes, and the peasants. They bore the burden of most taxes and had no special privileges, unlike the clergy and nobility who enjoyed exemptions and privileges. The description fits the Third Estate because it captures the non-clerical, non-noble commoners who faced taxation without corresponding political privileges. The First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) were the privileged groups, not the ones described here, and peasants alone don’t convey the full social range of the Third Estate.