Tennis Court Oath
Why is the Tennis Court Oath significant?
The Tennis Court Oath was significant because it showed the growing unrest against Louis XVI and laid the foundation for later events, including: the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the storming of the Bastille.
Necker's dismissal
- 11 July 1789 Necker was dismissed. - Crowds of people on the street, looting shops. - Shouts of Necker and the Third Estate rang through the air. - Soldiers retreating from hailing stones as groups of men with pitchforks, swords attacked. - Necker's dismissal brought a crowd of several thousand to listen to speakers condemning the King's actions and calling for action. - Desmoulins urged those assembled to take up arms against the treachery of Kings. - Urged the crowd to identify themselves as patriots by pulling leaves from the trees.
The Royal session
- 23 June 1789, Louis announced that the decision to form the National Assembly was annulled and that the estates should meet separately, unless he permitted them to meet together. - He announced that the question of equal taxation would be considered and new taxes would only be levied with the consent of the Estates-General. - Louis promised to extend the system of provincial assemblies to the whole of his kingdom, to abolish censorship of the press and arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. - Ordered the deputies to disperse and to meet the next day in their separate orders. - Mirabeau rose to his full height and pronounced, "we Go and tell those who have sent you that we are here by the will of the nation and we will go only if we are driven out by bayonets." - On 24th of June the soldiers sent to deny the National Assembly entry to its meeting hall crossed to support the Assembly, telling Baily, 'we are too citizens."
Escalating tensions in Paris
- Louis decides to bring in 1800 troops. - Mirabeau becomes the key agitator. - Petition for Louis to withdraw the troops - King blames Necker of the failure of the Royal Session and sacked him. - Sacking Necker gives people another reason to hate the King.
Tennis Court Oath
- The Tennis Court Oath was a pledge taken by Third Estate deputies to the Estates-General. It was sworn in a Versailles tennis court on June 20th 1789. - After days of disputes over voting procedures, the king scheduled a séance royale for June 23rd. When the Third Estate gathered to meet on June 20th, they found the doors to their meeting hall locked and guarded. - Fearing a royalist conspiracy, the Third Estate responded by gathering in a nearby tennis court. There they pledged not to disband until the nation had drafted and implemented a constitution. - The Tennis Court Oath was written by Emmanuel Sieyès, administered by Jean-Sylvain Bailly and signed by 576 deputies with one abstainer. Later, the oath was famously depicted by the revolutionary artist Jacques-Louis David. - At the séance royale that followed, the king promised several major political and legal reforms but refused to disband the Three Estates. This led to further acts of defiance and, eventually, the absorption of the Estates into the National Assembly. - Not leaving the tennis court until the constitution is established.
