Enlightenment/Meeting of Estates General Role-Play

This activity has students divided into the 3 Estates in pre-Revolutionary France. The handout is a useful document that shows each social class in France along with Enlightenment ideas. The goal is for the 3 Estates to each draw up their version of a French Constitution that will be debated at a meeting of the Estates General. The "Notes on the Meeting of the Estates General" is the document they use to record everyone's opinions and the outcome of the votes. Bu the end of this, they will all see how the 1st and 2nd Estates' interests align, and they keep outvoting the 3rd Estate.