Bad harvests in 1788 had been followed by an
unusually severe winter. The peasantry was in an extremely wretched
plight, and the cities, notably Paris, suffered from a shortage of
food. The increase of popular distress, like a black cloud before a
storm, gave menacing support to the demands of the commoners.
[Sidenote: The King Defied by the Third Estate]
[Sidenote: The "Oath of the Tennis Court," 20 June, 1789]
Over the constitutional question, fraught as it was with the most
significant consequences to politics and society, the parties wrangled
for a month. The king, unwilling to offend any one, shilly-shallied.
But the uncompromising attitude of the privileged orders and the
indecision of the leaders of the court at length forced the issue. On
17 June, 1789, the Third Estate solemnly proclaimed itself a National
Assembly. Three days later, when the deputies of the Third Estate came
to the hall which had been set apart in the palace of Versailles for
their use, they found its doors shut and guarded by troops and a notice
to the effect that it was undergoing repairs.
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