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After facing possible bankruptcy King Louis XVI called for a meeting of the estates general for a vote to raise taxes, but instead the third estate wanted to change the system of voting so that each representative would get a vote rather than each estate having a collective vote
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after the king refused to grant their request the representatives of the third estate tried to meet in the hall but the king had locked the doors so instead the met in a tennis court and formed the national assembly
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after they formed the assembly the third estate and a few clergy that had joined swore an oath in the tennis court the first assembled saying that they were the only group that represented the wants of the people and that they would not leave until they wrote out a constitution that detailed equal rights for all men
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inspired by the tennis court oath and the news that king Louis was gathering troupes for an attack Parisians invaded the Bastille in search of gunpowder
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the constitution essentially made it so that rather than the king or queen being all powerful they had to stay within set guide lines and their decrees had to go through the legislation first
