Tennis court oath why

This involvement also fuelled the intense growth of new ideas during the Age of Enlightenment. The American political system, which was based on the principle of democracy, inspired some new thinkers, while the Masonic lodges brought over from Britain and the United States specifically, the Nine Sisters Lodge played an active role in the evolution of ideas.

This assembly was traditionally called by the King when taxes were not sufficient to cover ad-hoc financial demands. Delegates representing the different 'Estates' of the Realm would have the opportunity to present complaints or grievances to the King, so Louis XIV and Louis XV had avoided holding such meetings, in order not to encourage the creation of an opposition force. Yet although he was not personally a supporter of this institution, Louis XVI decided to call a meeting.

That's when the new thinkers launched a campaign to demand a system of proportional representation: previously, each of the orders clergy, nobility, and commoners, or the Third Estate were represented by an equal number of delegates.

The King granted this request, and when the Estates General meeting was opened in Versailles on 4 May , the Third Estate delegates represented half of the members present. Emboldened by this success, on 17 June, the Third Estate delegates declared themselves as the National Assembly , and sought to sit in such a formation. Locked out of the Menus-Plaisirs hall where the Estates General were meeting, they looked for another room and, on 20 June, they ended up in the Tennis Court , the sports hall used by the Court, which was available that day.

It was there, in the name of all of those present delegates , that Bailly swore the famous oath that they would not disband until France had a Constitution. The significance of the event, which completely overturned the principles upon which the French monarchy was based, was subsequently depicted by the painter, David. He portrayed the crowd of delegates, who were packed into this cramped hall, inspired by the oath; while, through the window high up on the left, you can see a bolt of lightening as it strikes the Royal Chapel of the Palace of Versailles.

Here they pledged themselves to create a written constitution for France; by they would have one. The French Revolution in overthrew the monarchy and established in its place a republic based on the ideals of 'liberty, equality and fraternity'.

A new constitution was completed in , with the monarchy still in place, but with the majority of the power resting with an elected assembly. However, this constitution was to last less than a year.

Although King Louis XVI outwardly appeared to support the new constitutional order, inwardly he hoped the revolution would fail, and this was soon clear to the public as well.

Louis XVI, who ascended the French throne in , proved unsuited to deal with the severe financial problems he had inherited from his grandfather, King Louis XV. The Estates-General had not been assembled since , and its deputies drew up long lists of grievances and called for sweeping political and social reforms. The Third Estate, which had the most representatives, declared itself the National Assembly and took an oath to force a new constitution on the king.

Initially seeming to yield, Louis legalized the National Assembly under the Third Estate but then surrounded Versailles with troops and dismissed Jacques Necker, a popular minister of state who had supported reforms. In response, Parisians mobilized and on July 14 stormed the Bastille —a state prison where they believed ammunition was stored—and the French Revolution began.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! On June 20, , Jaws, a film directed by Steven Spielberg that made countless viewers afraid to go into the water, opens in theaters.

The story of a great white shark that terrorizes a New England resort town became an instant blockbuster and the highest-grossing film in movie A skilled practitioner of the frontier art of the tall tale, the mountain man Joe Meek dies on his farm in Oregon.

His life was nearly as adventurous as his stories claimed.