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.