A Cause De- The Three Estates

"French society was divided into three orders: the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate (or commons)...There were approximately 130,000 members of the clergy, 110,000 members of the nobility, and 24,750,000 members of the third estate. The clergy and the nobility each owned about a fifth of the nation's land but paid no taxes, while the third estate shared the rest of the land and carried the entire tax burden." - Fatal Purity

It's not really surprising, given this arrangement and their limited representation in government (each estate received an equal vote to the others) that the people of the third estate (which included the wealthy and educated bourgeoisie) would demand a more fair legislative process based on number of representatives.