Tennis Court Oath June 1789

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The Tennis Court Oath June 1789 History Guide Primary Source Refusing to be outvoted and demanding that the masses who work and pay taxes be heard, the representatives of the Third Estate regrouped at the Tennis Court of Versailles to proclaim themselves the National Assembly. They vowed not to disband until the King had recognized their sovereignty. The National Assembly, 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 confirm 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. [All the members swear the same oath between the hands of the president.] Taken from: http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/tennis_oath.html Source: Gazette Nationale, ou Le Monituer universel, trans. Laura Mason in Laura Mason and Tracey Rizzo, eds., The French Revolution: A Document Collection (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999), pp. 60-61..

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Nationalism in the French Revolution of 1789
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