The Awakening of the Third Estate This cartoon from July 1789 represents the third estate as a common man throwing off his chains and rising up against his oppression, as the first estate (the clergy) and the second estate (the nobility) look on in fear.
(The Awakening of the Third Estate, July 1789/French School/colored engraving/Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France/Bridgeman Images)