Chapter Chronology

Quiz for Listening to the Past: Abbé Sieyès, “What Is the Third Estate?”

Select the best answer. Click Submit for each question to turn in your work.

Question

1. How did Abbé Sieyès define a nation?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct: The answer is c. For Abbé Sieyès, the essence of a nation was a common set of laws and political institutions.
Incorrect: The answer is c. For Abbé Sieyès, the essence of a nation was a common set of laws and political institutions.
1. How did Abbé Sieyès define a nation?

Question

2. According to Abbé Sieyès, which of these groups was not part of the French nation?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct: The answer is b. In Abbé Sieyès’s view, the fact that the nobility was not subject to the same laws as other social groups meant that they were not part of the French nation.
Incorrect: The answer is b. In Abbé Sieyès’s view, the fact that the nobility was not subject to the same laws as other social groups meant that they were not part of the French nation.
2. According to Abbé Sieyès, which of these groups was not part of the French nation?

Question

3. Which of these groups was synonymous in Abbé Sieyès’s mind with the French nation?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct: The answer is b. As Abbé Sieyès emphatically declared, “The Third Estate therefore contains everything that pertains to the Nation and nobody outside of the Third Estate can claim to be part of the Nation.”
Incorrect: The answer is b. As Abbé Sieyès emphatically declared, “The Third Estate therefore contains everything that pertains to the Nation and nobody outside of the Third Estate can claim to be part of the Nation.”
3. Which of these groups was synonymous in Abbé Sieyès’s mind with the French nation?

Question

4. In Abbé Sieyès’s view, which of these detracted from the equality of all citizens?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct: The answer is d. Abbé Sieyès saw aristocratic privileges as perhaps the most important obstacle to the equality and unity of all French citizens.
Incorrect: The answer is d. Abbé Sieyès saw aristocratic privileges as perhaps the most important obstacle to the equality and unity of all French citizens.
4. In Abbé Sieyès’s view, which of these detracted from the equality of all citizens?

Question

5. Which of these limits did Abbé Sieyès place on individual freedom?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct: The answer is c. Abbé Sieyès was, in many ways, an early liberal who believed in the maximization of individual liberty, subject only to the condition that the individual does not harm others.
Incorrect: The answer is c. Abbé Sieyès was, in many ways, an early liberal who believed in the maximization of individual liberty, subject only to the condition that the individual does not harm others.
5. Which of these limits did Abbé Sieyès place on individual freedom?