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The House and Senate: The Modern 1st & 2nd Estates


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The House and Senate: The Modern 1st & 2nd Estates

Posted on December 12, 2014 by The Political Hat

In pre-Revolutionary France, the central government of the King assumed all power. This left the religious and secular nobility (the 1stand 2ndEstates), with prerogative and privilege, without the concomitant duty to serve. As Alexis de Tocqueville noted ofL’Ancien Régime:

 

“It had different prerogatives, was animated by a different spirit, played a different part, and inspired sentiments of quite another order. It must be remembered, too, that local governments had broken down and made way for a central administration staffed by a bureaucracy that was steadily undermining the power of the nobility.”

 

The reaction back then bears a stark resemblance to the House and the Senate today:

French-Revolution-Senate-Cloackroom.jpg

Continue reading → Scissors-32x32.png

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