Estates-General of 1789

The Estates-General of 1789 was the first meeting of the French Estates-General, a general assembly consisting of representatives from all but the poorest segment of the French citizenry, since 1614. The independence which it displayed from the crown paved the way for the French Revolution.

Proceedings and dissolution

The Estates-General reached an impasse immediately. The first item on the agenda involved the verification of powers. Mirabeau (member of the freemasonry lodge of the Nine Sisters), 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 the taxes of the king, the three estates began separately to discuss not taxes but the organization of the legislature. Shuttle diplomacy continued without success until May 27, when the nobles voted to stand firm for separate verification. The following day, Abbé Emmanuel Joseph 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 ("Commoners"), proceed with verification and invite the other two Estates to take part, but not to wait for them.

Related Topics:
Mirabeau - May 27

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On June 13, 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. Some of the nobles and the majority of the clergy joined the Third Estate, which on June 17 arrived at the celebrated decision by which it affirmed the principle of the national sovereignty residing in the mass of the nation.

Related Topics:
June 13 - June 17 - Sovereignty - Nation

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On June 17, with the failure of efforts to reconcile the three Estates, the Communes completed their own process of verification, thereby becoming the only Estate whose powers had been appropriately legalized. The Communes 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.

Related Topics:
June 17 - National Assembly

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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 June 20, he ordered the Salle des États, the hall where the National Assembly met, closed. The Assembly simply moved their deliberations to the king's tennis court, where they proceeded to swear the Tennis Court Oath, under which they agreed not to separate until they had given France a constitution. 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.

Related Topics:
Privy council - June 20 - Tennis Court Oath - Constitution

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In the séance royale of June 23, the king granted a charte octroyée, a constitution granted of 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 States-General had ceased to exist, having become the National Assembly (and after July 9, 1789, the National Constituent Assembly), though these bodies consisted of the same deputies elected by the separate orders.

Related Topics:
June 23 - July 9 - 1789 - National Constituent Assembly

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