Tennis Court Oath

The Tennis Court Oath was a June 1789 pledge by members of France’s Third Estate not to disband until they had established a constitution for France.

Estates-General of 1789: A French assembly of clergy, nobility, and commoners convened in 1789 to address the monarchy’s financial crisis. Its deadlock over voting and representation drove the Third Estate to make the pledge.
National Assembly: The representative body formed in June 1789 when Third Estate deputies declared themselves the representatives of the nation. The oath bound its deputies to continue acting as a constitutional assembly.
Storming of the Bastille: The 14 July 1789 uprising in Paris that captured the Bastille fortress and prison. Popular revolt followed the political challenge embodied by the oath.
Versailles: A city near Paris that housed the French royal court and the Estates-General in 1789. The deputies assembled there after finding their usual meeting hall closed.
Third Estate: The commoners’ social order in pre-revolutionary France, encompassing most of the population. Its deputies formed the core of the assembly that swore the oath.
Constitutionalism: The principle that government authority should be defined and limited by a constitution. The pledge made a written constitution the condition for ending the deputies’ assembly.
French Revolution: A period of political and social upheaval in France beginning in 1789 that ended the monarchy and transformed the state. The oath became an early landmark in the revolution’s transfer of authority.
Salle du Jeu de Paume: A royal tennis court at Versailles where Third Estate deputies took their oath on 20 June 1789. This was the indoor court where the pledge was made.
Voting by order: A voting procedure in the Estates-General in which each of the three estates cast one collective vote. It allowed the privileged orders to outvote the Third Estate despite its larger representation.
National sovereignty: The doctrine that political authority ultimately belongs to the nation rather than a monarch. The deputies’ claim to represent the nation challenged royal authority.

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