For the first time this classification met with the most determined opposition; and in June, on the proposition of a member, the abbe Sieyes, the deputies of the third estate declared themselves the sole body having a right to act as the legislature of France, and summoned the nobles and clergy, as bodies representing only certain classes, to attend their deliberations. At first only eight clerical deputies and no nobles obeyed their summons, and the commons now (June 17) solemnly proclaimed themselves the legislators of the country, and constituted themselves a body under the name of the national assembly (in history specially designated the constituent assembly; see Constitutional Convention).

A day or two later a majority of the clergy manifested a disposition to join them. Aroused by these proceedings, the king made an ill-advised attempt to check the course of events; and on the 20th, when the deputies of the commons, accompanied by many clerical deputies, came to the place of meeting, they found their entrance prevented by a guard of soldiers. In the greatest indignation, they gathered in a tennis court near by, and here took a solemn oath not to dissolve their assembly until a constitution for the kingdom should be decided upon and established on a firm basis. A meeting in the church of St. Louis on the 22d gave them added strength; and when, a few days later, the king appeared before them and, though delivering a half-conciliatory address, insisted upon their dispersing and meeting as prescribed, Mirabeau was unanimously sustained in sending to Louis his famous message:

"We are here by the power of the people, and we will not be driven hence save by the power of the bayonet." With these events the revolution may be said to have begun. The financial affairs and other business, to consider which the assembly had been called, had been pushed into the background, and the graver questions as to the rights of the people, the reorganization of government, and individual liberty, with which the American war had greatly aided to familiarize men's minds, now occupied the attention of all France. If the assembly had gone far beyond what had been foreseen, the body of the people, long oppressed, and now excited by the revolutionary clubs and the leaders who spoke to them of a republic, were ready to go much further than the assembly. A great part of the garrison of Paris shared the excited feeling of the populace, and events, of which we shall here give only a brief summary, now followed in rapid succession. The king and his advisers collected a body of troops in Paris, and deposed and banished Necker. On July 12, when the people heard of Necker's renewed dismissal and of his departure from Paris, the popular uprising began. A national guard under Lafayette was formed, and weapons and ammunition were taken from the public arsenals.

On the 14th followed the attack and sack of the Bastile. (See Bastile.) The people of the provinces speedily followed the example of the Parisians, and popular demonstrations of opposition began in all parts of the kingdom. Louis, who at first sought to conciliate the assembly by recalling Necker, and to quiet the people by confirming Lafayette's appointment, by appearing at the hotel de ville wearing the tricolored cockade, and by other means, met with only the most temporary success. The assembly, although they had long before, at the order of the yielding king, been joined by the nobles, daily took more decided measures. Schemes of general taxation were adopted; and on Aug. 4 the assembly took the decided step of abolishing all feudal rights and privileges of rank, and made their well known declaration of the rights of men. They debated further upon a form of constitution, and early in September they voted that the legislative power should be vested in a chamber of deputies that should be chosen biennially. On Sept. 21, after violent disputes, they conferred upon the king the right of a suspensive veto with regard to the proceedings of this body. The king accepted these measures.

In the mean time the manifestations of popular excitement had continued in Paris with but brief intermissions; and the prevailing scarcity of money and of food, the discussions concerning the royal veto, the flight of many of the higher and most unpopular nobles, and other causes, had kept the excitement at a high pitch. The proceedings at a ball given for a royal regiment at Versailles aroused the populace still more; and on Oct. 5 a vast multitude, comprising a large number of women, with some thousands of gardes francaises and national guards, went from Paris thither, and a tumult ensued, which was barely checked by Lafayette's interposition. Daybreak of the 6th witnessed renewed violence; the palace was invaded and several of the king's guards were killed; and the exhibition of popular force resulted in the consent of the king and the assembly to transfer themselves to Paris. The assembly now extended the right of suffrage to nearly all the people, who were to choose electors, who should in turn elect national deputies; decreed the confiscation of church property for the benefit of the state, and the creation of assignats (see Assignats); and passed an act reorganizing the country into departments and smaller divisions.

Louis confirmed all these measures; and in February, 1790, he appeared in the assembly, where he was received with considerable enthusiasm, and sought to display a conciliatory and liberal spirit. On July 14 he took the oath of support to the new constitution, with the deputies and other authorities, in the champ de Mars; and for a time it seemed as if a constitutional monarchy would remain established. But the conflicts in the provinces continued and increased; the assembly became more and more sharply divided into contending parties, and the popular orators incited the people to further demands. The details of the history of this period may be found in the biographies of the principal actors in its events; especially in those of Mirabeau, at this time the greatest man of the assembly, and of Marat, Desmoulins, Danton, and others, leaders of the republican clubs, now more than ever powerful. (See especially Jacobins.) A great part of the army shared the popular feeling; and those nobles who had emigrated (already called les emigres), gathering on the frontiers and seeking to raise troops, added to the causes of the coming storm.