King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates-General for the first time in over a hundred years. At the Estates-General, each estate got one vote, which meant that 98% of the population got only one vote. The "majority" of the three estates decided that the Third Estate should pay 100% of the taxes to help the country raise money. But the people of the Third Estate thought this was ridiculous. Why should they have to pay when the nobles had so much more money? The price of bread already took up half of a poor person's daily pay. The Third Estate would starve if they were taxed more. After that meeting, the Third Estate created its own government, the National Assembly. On June 20, 1789, the members tried to meet and found that King Louis XVI had locked the doors to their building. Desperate to have their meeting, members of the National Assembly went to a local tennis court. There, they swore the Tennis Court Oath, vowing that the future government would be a democracy. The power to govern would come from the people and not from a king.

Why did the National Assembly swear an oath on a tennis court?

A
because they believed tennis should be the national sport

B
because they wanted to meet outside where King Louis XVI could see them

C
because King Louis XVI had prevented them from meeting inside a building

D
because they wanted to prevent the First Estate from playing tennis