The Start of the French Revolution

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The Start of the French Revolution The disappointed reactions of the enraged Third Estate members who stood knocking violently at the door of the Hotel des Menus when they were locked out on June 20, 1789. The reason the Estates General was going to meet on this day was because of a recent voting conflict between the Estates General that had put the estates in deadlock for days. The Third Estate desired a change in the voting in the Estates-General, from voting by order, which the First and Second Estates wanted, to voting by head. As the Third Estate stood outside the meeting hall talking about what they would do next, after they had found out that the king had canceled the royal session because his son died and he found out about the formation of the National Assembly, which put him in great mourning, the sky began to rain. Once the rain was poring and drenching the Third Estate members, they sleeked shelter across the street in a nearby indoor tennis court. Inside the tennis court, Bailly, one of the main leaders of the Third Estate, stood on a table and voiced the ideas of Mounier, another leader. This proposal voiced by Bailly was that the Third Estate would not leave Versailles until there was a constitution which they agreed upon. This idea of Mounier's was taken in favor of a more radical reform plan proposed by Sieyes. Of the 577 members, all but one accepted this oath. This oath, which would change Mother France forever, was known as the Tennis Court Oath. Another key player in the Tennis Court Oath was Mirabeau. On June 23, 1789 he reminded King Louis XVI of the oath the Third Estate had taken on the 20th and also said that the Third Estate would not leave the meeting hall till the Estates General could vote by he... ... middle of paper ... ...As they marched through the streets, more women came out of their houses and off the street to join them. The women were armed with pitch forks, muskets, pikes, swords, bludgeons, crowbars, and scythes as they marched through the rain. When the women reached Versailles, they stormed through the gates. The women demanded bread while they stood in the palace of Versailles sopping wet and muddy. The King was scared and overwhelmed by group of people that stood before him. Since the national assembly had most of the power in the country of France and the king had very little, the king gave in to the women's demands. He then told the women that he would have all of the bread in Versailles ordered out to them. But more than bread arrived in Paris. The King decided to move his court to Paris was well, a decision that would have dire consequences as the revolution unfolded.

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