The Tennis Cort Oath
Author: The National Assebly
Author Bio and Context:Its members had been elected to represent the estates of the realm: the First Estate (the clergy), the Second Estate (the nobility) and the Third Estate (which, in theory, represented all of the commoners and, in practice, represented the bourgeoisie). The Third Estate had been granted "double representation" that is, twice as many delegates as each of the other estates.
Summary:
One day when the National Assebly of france as to meet they were shocked to discover the doors to their chamber locked and guarded by soldiers. Immediately fearing the worst the men congregated in the king's nearby indoor 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 assebly pledged to continue to meet until a constitution had been written, despite the royal prohibition. 576 men signed the oath, with only one refusing. The oath was both a revolutionary act and an assertion that political authority derived from the people and their representatives, rather than from the monarch.
Quotes: "Decrees that all members of this assebly shall immediatly take a solemn oath not to seperate."
Alex,
ReplyDeleteA very nice job in summarizing this all important document! You touched upon the background nicely and the summary allowed me to understand the document. Your quote also epitomizes this document.
Some things to consider include facts. Possibly adding the third estate's disgust for the Estates General would be nice. It also would have been nice to be told that it was a collaborative effort to pen this document in your Author bio. Finally, I would have liked to seen better care in grammar including capitalizing France. Overall a very well written post.