So basically, the peasants were hungry, the intellectuals were beginning to wonder whether God could or should save the king, and the nobility were dithering about eating foie gras and songbirds, failing to make meaningful financial reform. In response to the crisis, Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General, the closest thing that France had to a national parliament, which hadn't met since 1614. The Estates General was like a super-parliament, made up of representatives from the First Estate, the nobles, the Second Estate, the clergy, and the Third Estate, everyone else. The Third Estate showed up with about 600 representatives, the First and Second Estates both had about 300, and after several votes everything was deadlocked, and then the Third Estate was like, you know what, forget you guys, we're gonna leave and we're gonna become our own National Assembly. This did not please King Louis XVI, so when the new National Assembly left the room for a break, he locked the doors and he was like, sorry guys, you can't go in there, and if you can't assemble, how are you gonna be a National Assembly? Shockingly, the Third Estate representatives were able to find a different room in France, this time an indoor tennis court where they swore the famous tennis court oath. And they agreed not to give up until a French constitution was established.