Proceedings and Dissolution
The Estates-General reached an impasse. The first item on the agenda involved the verification of powers. Honoré Mirabeau, noble himself but elected to represent the Third Estate, tried but failed to keep all three orders in a single room for this discussion. Instead of discussing taxes of the king, the three estates began to discuss separately the organization of the legislature. Shuttle diplomacy continued without success until 27 May, when the nobles voted to stand firm for separate verification. The following day, Abbé Sieyès (a member of the clergy, but, like Mirabeau, elected to represent the Third Estate) moved that the representatives of the Third Estate, who now called themselves the Communes ("Commons"), proceed with verification and invite the other two estates to take part, but not to wait for them.
On 13 June 1789, the Third Estate had arrived at a resolution to examine and settle in common the powers of the three orders and invited to this common work those of the clergy and nobles. On 17 June, with the failure of efforts to reconcile the three estates, the Communes completed their own process of verification and almost immediately voted a measure far more radical: they declared themselves redefined as the National Assembly, an assembly not of the estates, but of the people. They invited the other orders to join them, but made it clear that they intended to conduct the nation's affairs with or without them. As their numbers exceeded the combined numbers of the other estates, they could dominate any combined assembly.
The King tried to resist. Under the influence of the courtiers of his privy council, he resolved to go in state to the Assembly, annul its decrees, command the separation of the orders, and dictate the reforms to be effected by the restored Estates-General. On 20 June, he ordered the Salle des États, the hall where the National Assembly met, closed. The Assembly moved their deliberations to the king's tennis court (Jeu de paume), where they proceeded to swear the Tennis Court Oath (Serment du jeu de paume), under which they agreed not to separate until they had settled the constitution of France. Two days later, deprived of use of the tennis court as well, the Assembly met in the Church of Saint Louis, where the majority of the representatives of the clergy joined them: efforts to restore the old order had served only to accelerate events. The King gave the people more fuel to keep going and make change happen.
In the séance royale of 23 June, the King granted a Charte octroyée, a constitution granted from the royal favour, which affirmed, subject to the traditional limitations, the right of separate deliberation for the three orders, which constitutionally formed three chambers. This move failed; soon, that part of the deputies of the nobles who still stood apart joined the National Assembly at the request of the King. The Estates-General had ceased to exist, having become the National Assembly (and after 9 July 1789, the National Constituent Assembly).
Read more about this topic: Estates-General Of 1789
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