Estates-General of 1789
Also called: Estates-General, National Assembly
At the first Estates-General in 175 years the orders split over how to vote, and the Third Estate proclaimed itself the National Assembly.
Helman, Isidore-Stanislas (1743-1806?). Graveur Monnet, Charles (1732-1819). Dessinateur du modèle · Public domain · Source
On 5 May 1789 the Estates-General, the assembly of clergy, nobility and commoners, met at the Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs in Versailles for the first time since 1614. The Third Estate had about 600 deputies, as many as the other two combined, but if each order voted as a block the privileged orders could always prevail. In January Sieyès had asked in his pamphlet “What is the Third Estate?” and answered “Everything”, to wide acclaim.
Demanding a vote by head, the Third Estate held out for more than a month, and on 17 June, on Sieyès’s motion, it declared itself the “National Assembly”. As some clergy deputies joined it, an assembly of orders began turning into a body representing the nation.
