What Is the Tennis Court Oath?

The Tennis Court Oath was a pledge made by the deputies of the Third Estate in France on 20 June 1789. It was a revolutionary act, as the deputies had sworn not to separate until they had given France a new constitution. The oath was broken when the deputies from the First Estate and the Second Estate joined them on 27 June.

Origins of the Tennis Court Oath

On June 20, 1789, the Third Estate of the Estates-General of France met in the Palais Royal in Paris. This group consisted of commoners and some nobles who were not part of the First or Second Estate. The group had been meeting for several weeks, but had not been able to come to an agreement on how to vote on financial matters.

The Estates-General of 1789

At the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, the Estates-General was called in order to resolve some pressing issues regarding taxation. The Estates-General was a representative body that consisted of three estates: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). However, due to years of tensions between the different estates, they were unable to come to an agreement. In an attempt to force the issue, on June 17th, 1789, delegates from the Third Estate convened at a tennis court in Versailles and took an oath not to disperse until they had reached a resolution. This event became known as the Tennis Court Oath.

The National Assembly

The Tennis Court Oath (Serment du Jeu de Paume) was a watershed event during the first days of the French Revolution. A group of National Assembly deputies, frustrated by the king’s unwillingness to allow a fair constitutional process, gathered at a Paris tennis court on June 20, 1789. There, they swore not to disperse until they had drafted a new constitution.

The deputies had been meeting in the same room of the Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs since May 5 but were constantly interrupted by orders from King Louis XVI. The young insurgent group, which included Georges Danton and Maximilien Robespierre, decided that it was time to take action. They moved their meeting to a nearby indoor tennis court, where they took an oath not to leave until France had a new constitution.

The Tennis Court Oath was significant because it symbolized the determination of the National Assembly to see their work through to completion and also foreshadowed France’s move towards a more radical form of democracy. It also set the stage for further confrontations between the king and his assembled representatives.

The Tennis Court Oath

On June 20, 1789, several dozen of the new National Assembly’s 577 deputies gathered at a tennis court in the suburban village of Versailles. They had gone there to hear a speech by the popular orator Maximilien Robespierre, who was to defend the new Constitution. Soon after Robespierre began speaking, a large number of deputies interrupted him, demanding that he and the rest of the deputies take an oath to defend the Constitution.

The Oath Itself

The Tennis Court Oath (Serment du Jeu de Paume) was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789. The only person who did not sign was Joseph Martin-Dauch, a representative of the clergy who had gone to fetch refreshments. With the bourgeois deputies refusing to return home without having reached some kind of agreement, they met in a nearby indoor tennis court, where they swore not to disband before constitutional reform had been achieved. The Oath was both an act of defiance and an assertion that political authority derived from the people and their representatives rather than from the monarch.

Swearing the oath signified for many deputies a full break with the monarchy and all its old customs and institutions. They were now pledging themselves to form a new national assembly and create a new French Constitution. The deputies who took the Tennis Court Oath became known as the “Constituents”. Many see it as the beginning of the French Revolution, although this is disputed by some historians.

The Significance of the Oath

The Tennis Court Oath (Serment du Jeu de Paume) was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members of the French National Assembly on June 20, 1789. The representatives had been unable to reach an agreement on how to vote by head count or by order of importance, so they met in a tennis court to make their decision. They pledged not to disband until they had written a new constitution for France.

The significance of the oath was that it showed the determination of the National Assembly to write a new constitution and govern France. It was also a break with tradition, as the representatives had sworn an oath to the king, not to the people. This showed that they were willing to defy the king and stand up for the rights of the people.

The Aftermath of the Tennis Court Oath

After the Tennis Court Oath was taken, the National Assembly continued to meet and discuss how to reform France. They were divided on many issues, but they were able to agree on a few things. The first was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which guaranteed certain rights to all men in France. They also agreed on a Constitution, which set up a limited monarchy.

The Fall of the Monarchy

The Tennis Court Oath (French: Serment du Jeu de Paume) was a key event during the first days of the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789. The only person who did not sign was Joseph Martin-Dauch, a deputy from Paris.

The Tennis Court Oath marked the beginning of the French Revolution. The people of France had had enough of being controlled by an unfair government and were ready to fight for their rights. The Tennis Court Oath showed that they were willing to stand up against injustice, even if it meant risking their lives.

After the signing of the oath, the deputies from the Third Estate met again on 22 June. They declared themselves to be the National Assembly and promised to create a new constitution for France. King Louis XVI was not happy with this turn of events and tried to stop the National Assembly from meeting. However, the people of Paris rose up in support of the National Assembly and on 14 July 1789, they stormed the Bastille, a symbol of royal power.

The fall of the monarchy was now inevitable and on 21 September 1792, King Louis XVI was arrested and taken to prison. In January 1793, he was put on trial for treason and was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793.

The Reign of Terror

The Tennis Court Oath (Serment du Jeu de Paume) was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789. The only person who did not sign was Joseph Martin-Dauch, a depute from the sieurie of Launay-et-l’Islet, who was not present at the time. With this oath, the Third Estate declared themselves a National Assembly and vowed to continue meeting until they had given France a Constitution.

The Oath was drawn up by Bailly, Sieyès and Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau. It was written in about an hour on a table in the indoor tennis court at the Jeu de Paume, and because it had no date or proper signatures, some historians consider it more of a symbolic gesture than an actual oath.

The Reign of Terror (La Terreur) was a period of violence that occurred after the start of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between two rival political factions, the Girondins (supporters of the National Assembly) and the Jacobins (supporters of the Jacobin Club). During this time, thousands were executed or guillotined, including King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.