Frustrated by the procedures of the Estates-General, particularly the use of voting by order, the Third Estate spent the first week of June contemplating what action to take.
They had been long frustrated with the outvoting, vetoing and the absolute lack of power, in comparison to the other two estates.
Categories To overcome these injustices, the third estate planned to create a cohesive group of all the estates, and overcome this separation of power. This occurred on June 17th w…
Finding themselves locked out of their usual meeting hall at Versailles on June 20 and thinking that the king was forcing them to disband, they moved to a nearby indoor tennis court (salle du jeu de paume). By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica.Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox.
The king's initial reaction was marked with indifference, however, over the next few days, members of both, the clergy as well as the nobility began to join forces with the assembly. The Third Estate, which had the most representatives, declared itself the National Assembly and took an oath to force a new constitution on the king.
So let's have a look at the background itself before we get into the nature of the oath. However, the king realized that it was a threat to the power vested with the monarchy, and sought to garner the support of the more moderate reformists within the third estate.On the 20th of June, when the assembly intended to gather at the chamber, they discovered that they had been locked out. The Tennis Court Oath was a pledge that was signed in the early days of the French Revolution and was an important revolutionary act that displayed the belief that political authority came from the nation’s people and not from the monarchy. Two days later they listened to the king’s program for reform.
The first of these included the clergy, the second consisted of the French nobility and third covered the rest of the French who were a mix of exceptionally rich people, poor merchants and everyone in between. For the French revolution, one of these pivotal moments came through the historic tennis court oath back in 1789.So what makes this moment so significant?
In an act of defiance, they marched away from the chambers, into the building next to it that incidentally housed an indoor That is where 576 members of the third estate, wrote and signed the infamous "Tennis Court Oath", as the ultimate act of rebellion, defiance, and solidarity against the monarchy, swearing "not to separate and to reassemble wherever circumstances require until the constitution of the kingdom is established", as quoted in the translations of the original French texts.Following the event, on the 22nd of June, the deputies of the estate, accompanied by several clergymen and two representatives from the nobility, met at the Versailles church. While the reforms served as a part of the estate's requests, their major request had been defied. The king, in response, requested the estates to conduct their sessions within their own estates, however, this was met with collective dissent.The king then introduced a series of reforms including the provision for a more representative form of governance, an overhaul of the tax system, and the promise of a significant improvement in the current legal system.
The deputies of the Third Estate separated... See full answer below.
Finding themselves locked out of their usual meeting hall at
There they took an oath never to separate until a written constitution had been established for France.
That is where 576 members of the third estate, wrote and signed the infamous "Tennis Court Oath", as the ultimate act of rebellion, defiance, and solidarity against the monarchy, swearing "not to separate and to reassemble wherever circumstances require until the constitution of the kingdom is established", as quoted in the translations of the original French texts.