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Tennis Court Oath,
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Tennis Court Oath (
French:
serment du jeu de paume) was a pledge signed by 577 members of
France's
Third Estate and a few members of the
Second Estate (who as of
June 17 1789 called themselves the
National Assembly) during the
Estates-General of
June 20,
1789 in a local tennis court. The doors at their usual meeting place of Versailles were locked and guarded by King Louis XVI guards. These people who had called themselves the national assembly had been kicked out of their meeting room. It is widely considered as a key moment in the
French Revolution.
Jacques Necker, finance minister to King Louis XVI, had proposed that the King hold a
Séance Royal (Royal Session) in an attempt to conciliate the divided Estates. The plan was agreed, however none of the three orders (see
Estates of the Realm) were formally notified of the decision to hold a Royal Session. All debates were to be put on hold until the
séance royal took place.
On the morning of June 20th the deputies were shocked to discover the doors to their chamber locked and guarded by soldiers. Immediately fearing the worst and anxious that a royal coup was imminent, the deputies congregated in a nearby indoor
tennis court where they took a solemn collective oath "never to separate, and to meet wherever circumstances demand, until the constitution of the kingdom is established and affirmed on solid foundations".
http://library.thinkquest.org/C006257/assets/events/tennis_court_oath_doc_4.htmThe deputies pledged to continue to meet until a constitution had been written, despite the royal prohibition. 577 men signed the oath, with only one refusing. The oath was both a revolutionary act, and an assertion that political authority derived from the people and their representatives rather than from the monarch himself.
see also|French
Category:1789 in FranceCategory:French RevolutionCategory:History of Parisde:Ballhausschwures:Juramento del Juego de Pelotafr:Serment du Jeu de paumehr:Prisega na loptalištuit:Giuramento della Sala della Pallacordanl:Eed op de Kaatsbaanja:球戯場の誓いno:Ballhusedenzh:网球厅宣誓