<P> The Estates - General convened in the Grands Salles des Menus - Plaisirs in Versailles on 5 May 1789 and opened with a three - hour speech by Necker . The Third Estate demanded that the credentials of deputies should be verified by all deputies, rather than each estate verifying the credentials of its own members, but negotiations with the other estates failed to achieve this . The commoners appealed to the clergy, who asked for more time . Necker then stated that each estate should verify its own members' credentials and that the king should act as arbitrator . </P> <P> The middle class were the ones who fanned the flames of revolution . They established the National Assembly and tried to pressure the aristocracy to spread their money evenly between the upper, middle and lower classes . On 10 June 1789 Abbé Sieyès moved that the Third Estate, now meeting as the Communes (English: "Commons") proceed with verifying its own powers and invite the other two estates to take part, but not to wait for them . They proceeded to do so two days later, completing the process on 17 June . Then they voted a measure far more radical, declaring themselves the National Assembly, an assembly not of the Estates but of "the People". They invited the other orders to join them, but made it clear they intended to conduct the nation's affairs with or without them . </P> <P> In an attempt to keep control of the process and prevent the Assembly from convening, Louis XVI ordered the closure of the Salle des États where the Assembly met, making an excuse that the carpenters needed to prepare the hall for a royal speech in two days . Weather did not allow an outdoor meeting, and fearing an attack ordered by Louis XVI, they met in a tennis court just outside Versailles, where they proceeded to swear the Tennis Court Oath (20 June 1789) under which they agreed not to separate until they had given France a constitution . A majority of the representatives of the clergy soon joined them, as did 47 members of the nobility . By 27 June, the royal party had overtly given in, although the military began to arrive in large numbers around Paris and Versailles . Messages of support for the Assembly poured in from Paris and other French cities . </P> <P> By this time, Necker had earned the enmity of many members of the French court for his overt manipulation of public opinion . Marie Antoinette, the King's younger brother the Comte d'Artois, and other conservative members of the King's privy council urged him to dismiss Necker as financial advisor . On 11 July 1789, after Necker published an inaccurate account of the government's debts and made it available to the public, the King fired him, and completely restructured the finance ministry at the same time . </P>

Describe the system of states in the french society during the 18th century