Why was the Tennis Court Oath so Significant to the start of the French revolution?
First off, there were no third estates. There were the three estates of the French parliament, which had not met for a few hundred years. The three estates of parliament consisted of the nobles, the clergy (meaning bishops), and commoners. The cabinet ministers of Louis XVI were forced to call a meeting of the estates general because of the need for new taxes. Even at that time, the government was dependent on taxes that were in force during the middle ages. To levy new taxes, the government had to get the consent of the estates general. The delegates to the estates general said that they were willing to vote new money to Louis XVI, but the government must give something in return. This was the case with the English parliament fore hundreds of years. The government refused the demands of the estates and tried to dissolve it. The delregates responded by walking out of the chamber of the palace where they were meeting onto a tennis court outside. There, they took an oath that they would
