What was the Tennis Court Oath an oath for?
The Tennis Court Oath was a pivotal event during the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 out of the 577 members from the Third Estate and a few members of the First Estate during a meeting of the Estates-General of June 20, 1789 in a tennis court building near the Palace of Versailles. On June 17, 1789 this group, led by Mirabeau and Abbe Sieyes, began to call themselves the National Assembly, which became the name of the primary French legislative body. On the morning of June 20 the deputies were shocked to discover that the doors to their chamber were locked and guarded by soldiers. Immediately fearing the worst and anxious that a royal coup by King Louis XVI was imminent, the deputies congregated in a nearby indoor real 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.” The deputies pledged to continue to meet u
