Today in 1789, partisan mayhem in Paris was the result of looming economic and political crisis in France. Louis XV had left France in severe debt. French centralized economic planning strategies allowed the injection of new bills into the money supply, compounding the problem and causing hyperinflation. Upon the summoning of the French Estates General for the first time in over 150 years, representatives of nobility, clergy, and commoners wished to exert influence wherever possible as a potential remedy. When Louis XVI ordered the hall where the assembly met closed, the Third Estate met in a nearby Tennis Court and declared themselves the new National Assembly of France, its members taking the “Tennis Court Oath.” The representatives promised to meet continuously until a new constitution was constructed. This was an important, galvanizing step which openly opposed the Bourbon monarchy and ruling hierarchy of the day. The right of self-government was acknowledged, and Louis XVI would find it increasingly impossible to perpetuate the traditions of the divine right of kings. The first of many important events in the course of the French Revolution, the Tennis Court Oath was a true illustration of royalist defiance.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:17:20 +0000