The bourgeois heavily influenced all parts of France’s culture, politics and economics in the 18th century. The Ancien Régime was the monarchcic, aristocratic, social and political system that existed in France from the 15th century to the late 18th after it was crushed by the Revolution. The political system at this time was claimed by Lefebvre to be feudal; a social system in which people worked and fought for nobles who gave them protection and the use of land in return. The bourgeois were an important part of the regime. They made up the Third Estate, part of the Estates-General. The Estates General was a meeting of the estates of the realm which represented France: the clergy as the First Estate, the nobles as the Second Estate, and the
