In France’s Ancien Régime, society was divided into three “estates”.
The second estate is is made up of France’s nobility, that is, people who had titles like Duc or Compte. Aside from the usual privilege that went with being nobility, those in this estate were exempt from paying personal taxes.
As for the other estates, the first estate was the clergy. The third estate was everyone else, which made up 98% of the French population. These included urban and rural peasants, laborers, people who earned wages. All of them served the first and second estates.
In the never-ending political theater whose current star is U.S. President Donald Trump, even something as mundane as the State of the Union Address had become an issue. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) had rescinded her invitation to the President to address a joint session of Congress, thus giving pundits everywhere more reason to yell at each other on…read more
John Rutledge (1739-1800) of South Carolina was an intriguing political figure whose highly preventable downfall came swiftly. In the early days of the U.S., political rules and practices were still being hammered out while the lines between what was appropriate and what wasn’t were slowly being drawn. What didn’t always help matters was the press at the time. Rumors were…read more
If you’re a rich person looking for a place to hide your money from the evil tax-collecting hoards in your home country, or maybe you’re a super rich drug dealer who doesn’t want your local government asking questions about that Bentley parked in your quarter-mile driveway when on your last return you reported earnings of only $28,000, then look no…read more
The armistice1 that ended the fighting in World War I was signed by representatives from Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, at 5AM on 11/11/1918, in a railroad carriage in Compiègne, France, but the agreement didn’t go into effect for another six hours. WWI would end at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, which was fine for those who…read more
The quarterback-heavy New England Patriots the other day traded their backup (or second-string) quarterback to the quarterback-needy San Francisco 49ers for a pick in the second round of the 2018 NFL draft. Reasons for the trade are beyond the scope of this particular post, however, the trade of a valuable player who came into professional football as a second-round pick…read more