<Tr> <Th> Preceded by </Th> <Td> Estates - General of 1789 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Succeeded by </Th> <Td> National Constituent Assembly </Td> </Tr> <P> During the French Revolution, the National Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale), which existed from 13 June 1789 to 9 July 1789, was a revolutionary assembly formed by the representatives of the Third Estate of the Estates - General; thereafter (until replaced by the Legislative Assembly on 30 Sept 1791) it was known as the National Constituent Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale constituante), though popularly the shorter form persisted . </P> <P> The Estates - General had been called on 4 May 1789 to deal with France's financial crisis, but promptly fell to squabbling over its own structure . Its members had been elected to represent the estates of the realm: the 1st Estate (the clergy), the 2nd Estate (the nobility) and the 3rd Estate (which, in theory, represented all of the commoners and, in practice, represented the bourgeoisie). The Third Estate had been granted "double representation"--that is, twice as many delegates as each of the other estates--but at the opening session on 5 May 1789 they were informed that all voting would be "by power" not "by head", so their double representation was to be meaningless in terms of power . They refused this and proceeded to meet separately . </P>

What was the national assembly and how did it form