The French Revolution began when the Estates-General met on May 5, 1789. Many Nobles and some of the clergy followed the Third Estate, in starting the long revolution. They changed the name of their gathering from Estates General to the National Assembly, which represented all of the people of France, thus doing away with representation by class.

When the king shut them out from their usual place of meeting, they took the famous Oath of the Tennis Court (June 20, 1789), pledging themselves not to separate until they had given France a constitution. When the king sent a messenger to remove them from their hall, the fiery Mirabeau cried out: "Go tell your master that we are here by the will of the people and that we shall be removed only at the point of the bayonet."

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