Louis XVI and Charles Louis François de Paule de Barentin, the Keeper of the Seals of France, address the deputies on May 6, at which point the Third Estate discovers that the royal decree granting double representation also upholds the traditional voting "by orders", i.e. that the collective vote of each estate will be weighed equally.

The apparent intent of the King and of Barentin is for everyone to get directly to the matter of taxes.

The larger representation of the Third Estate will remain merely a symbol while giving them no extra power.

Director-General of Finance Jacques Necker has more sympathy for the Third Estate, but on this occasion he speaks only about the fiscal situation, leaving it to Barentin to speak on how the Estates-General was to operate.

The King and his ministers, in trying to avoid the issue of representation and to focus solely on taxes, have gravely misjudged the situation.

The Third Estate wants the estates to meet as one body and for each delegate to have one vote.

The other two estates, while having their own grievances against royal absolutism, believe—correctly, as history is to prove—that they stand to lose more power to the Third Estate than they stand to gain from the King.

Necker sympathizes with the Third Estate in this matter, but the astute financier lacks equal astuteness as a politician.

He decides to let the impasse play out to the point of stalemate before he will enter the fray.

As a result, by the time the King yields to the demand of the Third Estate, it seems to all to be a concession wrung from the monarchy, rather than a magnanimous gift that would have convinced the populace of the King's goodwill.

The Estates-General had reached an impasse.

The Second Estate has pushed for meetings that are to transpire in three separate locations, as they have traditionally.

The Comte de Mirabeau, a noble himself but elected to represent the Third Estate, has tried but failed to keep all three orders in a single room for this discussion.

Instead of discussing the King's taxes, the three estates had begun to discuss separately the organization of the legislature.

These efforts had continued without success until 27 May, when the nobles voted to stand firm for separate verification.

The following day, the Abbé Sieyès (a senior member of the clergy, but, like Mirabeau, elected to represent the Third Estate) moves that the representatives of the Third Estate, who now call themselves the Communes ("Commons"), proceed with verification and invite the other two estates to take part, but not to wait for them.

The Third Estate had arrived at a resolution on June 13, 1789, to examine and settle the powers of the three orders.

They had invited the clergy and nobles to work with them on this endeavor.

On June 17, with the failure of efforts to reconcile the three estates, the Communes complete their own process of verification and almost immediately vote a measure far more radical: they declare themselves redefined as the National Assembly, an assembly not of the estates, but of the people.

They invite the other orders to join them but make it clear that they intend to conduct the nation's affairs with or without them.

As their numbers exceed the combined numbers of the other estates, they can dominate any combined assembly.

The King tries to resist.

Under the influence of the courtiers of his privy council, he resolves to go in state to the Assembly, annul its decrees, command the separation of the orders, and dictate the reforms to be effected by the restored Estates-General.

On June 20, he orders the closure of the hall where the National Assembly meets.

The Assembly moves their deliberations to the nearby tennis court, where they proceed to swear the 'Tennis Court Oath', by which they agree not to separate until they have settled the constitution of France.

The Assembly, soon deprived of the use of the tennis court as well, meets two days later in the Church of Saint Louis, where the majority of the representatives of the clergy join them: efforts to restore the old order have served only to accelerate events.

The King, in the séance royale of June 23, grants a Charte octroyée, a constitution granted by royal favor, which affirms, subject to the traditional limitations, the right of separate deliberation for the three orders, which constitutionally form three chambers.

This move fails; soon, that part of the deputies of the nobles who still stand apart join the National Assembly at the request of the King.

The Estates-General has ceased to exist, having become the National Assembly (and after July 9, 1789, will become the National Constituent Assembly).