On Monday the 4th May, King Louis XVI, his court and all the representatives of the Estates-General sat together in a church service. During the service a bishop preached a sermon calling for the king and his court to improve the way France was governed.
The King was short of money. Expensive wars and bad government has cost a lot. In 1776 he sacked his finance minister, Turgot, and replaced him with a Swiss banker named necker. But he borrowed money and made up figures to avoid trying to make the rich pay more taxes.
The only way to get agreement to new taxes was to call a meeting of the Estates-General. Made up of representatives of the three estates, it had not met since 1614. This was because French kings tried to rule without getting the agreement to people.
On Saturday 2nd May, the king met all the representatives of the third estate. He spoke to no one except one old man to whom he said, 'good morning, good man'.
It was the members of the third estate who made the revolution. This was not surprising: They paid most of the taxes but had no say in the running of the country.
The king would not accept their demands. On the 17th June the third estate changes its name to the National Assembly. a large number of clergy came and joined them.
