Editing Tennis Court Oath

{{short description|Event at the start of the French Revolution}}
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The '''Tennis Court Oath''' ({{langx|fr|Serment du [[Jeu de Paume]]}}, {{IPA|fr|sɛʁmɑ̃ dy ʒø də pom|pron}}) was taken on 20 June 1789 by the members of the French [[Estates General (France)|Third Estate]] in a [[real tennis]] court on the initiative of [[Jean Joseph Mounier]]. Their vow "not to separate and to reassemble wherever necessary until the [[French Constitution of 1791|constitution of the kingdom]] is established" became a pivotal event in the [[French Revolution]].

The Estates-General had been called to address the country's [[Causes of the French Revolution|fiscal and agricultural crisis]], but they had become bogged down in issues of representation immediately after convening in May 1789, particularly whether they would vote by order or by head (which would increase the power of the Third Estate, as it outnumbered the other two estates by a large margin). On 17 June the Third Estate began to call itself the [[National Assembly (French Revolution)|National Assembly]], led by [[Jean Sylvain Bailly]] and [[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau]], who took prominent roles in much of early stages of the Revolution.<ref name="Doyle">{{cite book|last=Doyle|first= William|author-link=William Doyle (historian)|title=The Oxford History of the French Revolution|publisher=Oxford University Press|year= 1990|page=105|isbn=978-0192852212}}{{page?|date=June 2023}}</ref>

On the morning of 20 June the deputies were shocked to discover that the door of the ''Salle des Menus-Plaisir'' was locked and guarded by soldiers. They immediately feared the worst and were anxious that an attack was imminent from King [[Louis XVI]], so upon the suggestion of one of their members [[Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]],<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1177/014107689008301014 |title=Dr Guillotin{{snd}}reformer and humanitarian |year=1990 |last1=Donegan |first1=Ciaran F. |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |volume=83 |issue=10 |pages=637–639|pmid=2286964 |pmc=1292858 |doi-access=free }}</ref> the deputies congregated in a nearby indoor tennis court near the [[Palace of Versailles]]. 

The 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate took the oath.<ref>{{Cite book |title= Proceedings of the Bunker Hill Monument Association at the annual meeting |first=Marshall Putnam |last=Thompson |chapter= The Fifth Musketeer: The Marquis de la Fayette |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbvW7zpvRg8C|page= 50 |year= 1914 |access-date=10 February 2011 }}</ref> Bailly was the first one who signed; the only person who did not join was [[Joseph Martin-Dauch]], who would only execute decisions that were made by the monarch.<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution|first=Paul R.|last=Hanson|year=2004|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=978-0810850521|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000hans}}{{page?|date=June 2023}}</ref> To prevent further sessions, the tennis court was rented on 21 or 22 June by the [[Charles X of France|count of Artois]], a brother of the king. Meanwhile, the Assembly moved to the [[Versailles Cathedral]].

==Background==

[[File:Oath of the Tennis Court; the deputies of the third estate m Wellcome V0048256.jpg|thumb|The deputies of the third estate meeting in the tennis court, swearing not to disperse until a constitution is assured.]]
[[File:Gravure Serment du Jeu de Paume à Versailles le 19 juin 1789 1 - Archives Nationales - AE-II-3691.jpg|thumb|Etching by Helman after C. Monnet, “Serment du Jeu de Paume à Versailles” on 20 June 1789]]

Before the [[French Revolution|Revolution]], French society—aside from royalty—was divided into three [[Estates of the realm#Kingdom of France|estates]]. The First Estate comprised the clergy; the Second Estate was the nobility. The rest of France—some 97 per cent of the population—was the Third Estate, which ranged from very wealthy city merchants to impoverished rural farmers. The three estates had historically met in the [[Estates General (France)|Estates General]], a legislative assembly,<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/193320/Estates-General Estates-General] in ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''</ref> but this had not happened since 1614, under the reign of [[Louis XIII]]. It was the last of the Estates General of the [[Kingdom of France]]. Summoned by King [[Louis XVI]], the [[Estates General of 1789]] ended when the Third Estate formed the [[National Assembly (French Revolution)|National Assembly]] and, against the wishes of the king, invited the other two estates to join. This signaled the outbreak of the French Revolution.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-08-23 |title=Summoning of the Estates General, 1789 |url=https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/key-dates/summoning-estates-general-1789 |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=Palace of Versailles |language=en}}</ref> 

The Third Estate comprised the overwhelming majority of the French population, but the structure of the Estates-General was such that the Third Estate comprised a bare majority of the delegates. A simple majority was sufficient—as long as delegate votes were cast together. The First and Second Estates preferred to divide the vote; a proposal might need to receive approval from each Estate or there might be two "houses" of the Estates-General (one for the first two Estates, and one for the Third) and a bill would need to be passed by both houses. Either way, the First and Second Estates could exercise a veto over proposals enjoying widespread support among the Third Estate, such as reforms that threatened the [[abolition of feudalism in France|privileges of the nobility]] and [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy|clergy]].

==Oath==

[[File:Procès verbal de la prestation du serment du Jeu de Paume Page de signatures - Archives Nationales - AE-I-5.jpg|thumb|Minutes of the taking of the Jeu de Paume oath Signature page]]

The deputies' fears, even if wrong, were reasonable, and the importance of the oath goes above and beyond its context.<ref name="Osen">{{cite book|first= James L.|last= Osen|title=Royalist Political Thought during the French Revolution|year=1995|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|location=Westport, CT|isbn=978-0313294419}}{{page?|date=June 2023}}</ref> The oath was a revolutionary act and an assertion that political authority derived from the people and their representatives rather than from the monarchy. Their solidarity forced Louis XVI to order the clergy and the nobility to join the Third Estate in the National Assembly to give the illusion that he controlled the National Assembly.<ref name="Doyle" /> This oath was vital to the Third Estate as a protest that led to more power in the Estates General, every governing body thereafter.<ref>{{Citation|last = John D Ruddy|title = French Revolution in 9 Minutes|date = 2015-01-12|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1_2NwmIobU|access-date = 2016-02-29}}</ref> Among the oath-takers were five delegates from the colony of [[Saint-Domingue]].

The text was prepared by [[Antoine Barnave]] and [[Isaac Le Chapelier]]. An English-language translation of the oath reads:
<blockquote>
Considering that it has been called to establish the constitution of the realm, to bring about the regeneration of public order, and to maintain the true principles of monarchy; nothing may prevent it from continuing its deliberations in any place it is forced to establish itself; and, finally, the National Assembly exists wherever its members are gathered.

Decrees that all members of this Assembly immediately take a solemn oath never to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require until the constitution of the realm is established and fixed upon solid foundations; and that said oath having been sworn, all members and each one individually confirms this unwavering resolution with his signature.

We swear never to separate ourselves from the National Assembly, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require until the constitution of the realm is drawn up and fixed upon solid foundations.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Tennis Court Oath, June 1789 |url=http://wp.stu.ca/worldhistory/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/07/Tennis-Court-Oath.pdf |access-date=14 September 2019}}</ref></blockquote>

==Significance and aftermath==

[[File:Salle du jeu de paume Versailles.jpg|thumb|The Tennis Court was built in 1686 near the [[Palace of Versailles]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.versailles-tourisme.com/the-royal-tennis-court.html|title=The Royal tennis court|access-date=2021-06-21}}</ref> ]]

The oath signified for the first time that French citizens formally stood in opposition to Louis XVI. The National Assembly's refusal to back down forced the king to make concessions. It was foreshadowed by and drew considerably from the 1776 [[United States Declaration of Independence]], especially the preamble.{{cn|date=May 2021}} The oath inspired a wide variety of revolutionary activities in the months afterwards, ranging from rioting in the French countryside to renewed calls for a written constitution. It reinforced the Assembly's strength, and although the king attempted to thwart its effect, Louis was forced to relent, and on 27 June 1789 he formally requested that voting occur based on head counts, not on each estates' power.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Hanson |first1= Paul R. |title= Historical dictionary of the French Revolution |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0ed2hans |url-access= registration |date=2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9780810878914 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0ed2hans/page/118 118] |edition= Second}}</ref> 

The Tennis Court Oath preceded the [[Storming of the Bastille]] in July, the [[abolition of feudalism in France|abolition of feudalism]] in August, and the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] on 26 August. The members of the  [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]] became increasingly divided. The [[French Constitution of 1791]] redefined the organization of the French government, taxation system, [[Census suffrage|male census suffrage]] and the limits to the powers of government.

Following the 100 year celebration of the oath in 1889, what had been the Royal Tennis Court was again forgotten and deteriorated. Prior to World War II, there was a plan to convert it into a table tennis room for Senate administrators at the Palace. In 1989 the bicentenary of the French Revolution was an opportunity to restore the tennis court.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/royal-tennis-court|title=The Royal Tennis Court|access-date=2021-06-21}}</ref>[[File:Galerie de la Salle du Jeu de Paume de Versailles.jpg|thumb|In the western gallery of the Salle du Jeu de Paume, reproductions of the engravings are on display.]]{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |last=Wilde |first=Robert |year=2014 |title=The Estates General and the Revolution of 1789 |website=about.com |url=http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thefrenchrevolution/a/hfr3.htm |access-date=1 March 2014}}
* {{wikisource-inline}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Serment du Jeu de paume|Tennis Court Oath}}
* [http://paumefrance.com/ Official site of the French ''Courte Paume'' Comité (''Real tennis'' in french)] {{in lang|fr}}
* [http://www.hyzercreek.com/RealTennis.htm Article "Tennis" in the 1797 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica]
* [http://www.realtennissociety.org The Real Tennis Society]
* [https://archive.org/details/jstor-2139955/mode/2up The Tennis Court Oath by Robinson, James Harvey]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow0rjq6kt1Q Tennis court Versailles]
* [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2139955 The Tennis Court Oath Author(s): James Harvey Robinson Source: Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Sep., 1895), pp. 460–474 Published by: The Academy of Political Science, Accessed: 01-01-2022 17:18 UTC]

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