Tennis Court Oath

The Tennis Court Oath was created in 1789 by members of the Third Estate. King Louis XIV, had originally held meetings with members from all three Estates. However, this was unfair, since they would often vote by party, rather than by person. The Third Party was usually outvoted by the other two parties. Members of the Third Party left, and created an assembly called the National Assembly. They invited members of the other two estates to join them, and many did. It was their goal to improve France. King Louis XIV did not let members of the National Assembly in to the estates meetings. The members then decided to meet up at a nearby indoor tennis court (actually a court for a game called the jeu de paume. The members refused to leave the court until they had come up with a constitution. And so, the Tennis Court Oath was born.

One of the National Assembly's main grievances was that the Third Estate made up most of the population, but had the least say in the state. The Third Party members were the ones who did all the manual labor, and the most physical work. The National Assembly members claimed that the nobility got the large majority of the money for hardly doing any work. It is a financial, mental, and physical complaint. The commoners received barely any money for the hard, physical labor they endured. They were at the bottom of the social ladder, even though they were the ones working extremely hard. The National Assembly believed that they should be recognized for their efforts.