The unequal distribution of wealth and power among the three states or estates of French society became more acute in the eighteenth century. The clergy (first State) and the nobility (second State) were the privileged: they did not pay taxes, they owned most of the land, they received fees and alms from the peasants. The third State or plain State lacked privileges and had to pay taxes. It was a very diverse group, from the poorest even the richest bourgeois, all annoyed and resentful, some for hunger and others for lack of access to political power. The situation worsened in the 1780s, after a series of bad harvests, which produced a rise in prices, especially bread. This provoked popular revolts.