Alex+Harrell

The Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath was an Oath taken by the Third Estate on June 20, 1789. The representatives from the Third Estate were going to the meeting of the Estates-Generals (A traditional meeting of leaders from the three estates of France) but they were not allowed in. So they went to a nearby tennis court and swore an oath (hence the term Tennis Court Oath) that they would never seperate until a new and fair written constitution had been established in France. On June 27, 1789 King Louis XVI forced the other two estates to join the Third Estate in the National Assembly.

The actual oath is as follows;  “The National Assembly, considering that it has been summoned to establish the constitution of the kingdom, to effect the regeneration of the public order, and to maintain the true principles of monarchy; that nothing can prevent it from continuing its deliberations in whatever place it may be forced to establish itself; and, finally, that wheresoever its members are assembled, there is the National Assembly;   “Decrees that all members of this Assembly shall immediately take a solemn oath not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established and consolidated upon firm foundations; and that, the said oath taken, all members and each one of them individually shall ratify this steadfast resolution by signature.”