Constituent Assembly of 1789

The constituent Assembly of 1789 or constituent National Assembly is the first French constituent assembly, established by deputies of the General states when they set up themselves in a “National Assembly” on June 17th, 1789, dates that one retains like that of the birth of the French representative system.

History

General states (May-July 1789) with the birth of the National Assembly

See also: Oath of Jeu de Paume

The National Assembly was born in a context of political agitation to the favor of the convocation of the General states. Two questions animate the debates then: that of the verification of the credential of the deputies and that of the method of the vote - per capita or order. With their opening to Versailles the May 5th 1789, the General states were to be composed of 291 deputies of the clergy, 270 of the nobility and 584 of the Tiers state. May 6th, the Third takes the name of “Parliament of the communes” and request the verification of the joint credentials. The Nobility and the Clergy refuse to sit with the third: May 11th, the deputies of the Nobility meet in assembly of order, autonomous. The Clergy temporizes, the Third refuses very compromised, the absence of the king prohibits any arbitration. June 11th a motion is deposited by the Abbé Sieyès which invites Noblesse and Clergy to join the “deputies of the Communes”; two days later, three priests of Poitou, then on June 16th, nineteen ecclesiastics join the Communes which become under proposal of Sieyès, “Parliament of the known and checked representatives French Nation”, then “legitimate Parliament of the representatives of the major part of the Nation” and under the feather of Mirabeau, “Parliament of the representatives of French people”. In front of the absence of reaction of the major part of the privileged people, the deputies of the third constituted themselves in deliberating assembly, and took to the name of “National Assembly” , name suggested by the Legrand deputy on June 17th.
Louis XVI noting that the General states were escaping to him completely, decided to defer work and made close the room where they met in Versailles. The June 20th 1789, in front of the closed doors, of the representatives of the clergy proposed that one meets in the Saint-Louis church with Versailles; 149 representatives of the clergy and 2 representatives of the nobility united with the deputies of the Tiers state. The takeover by force of the king thus answered true a Coup d'etat: the deputies swore to separate only after having given a constitution to the France; it was the Serment of Jeu de Paume. The king, despairing to overcome their resistance, invited the two other orders to join them (June 27th). This assembly becomes the July 9th 1789 the constituent National Assembly.

The constituent Assembly (1789-1791)

The Parliament counted close to 1 200 deputies and seat of July 9th 1789 at September 30th 1791, initially with Versailles, then after the days of the October 5th and 6th 1789 (the Parisian ones bring back Louis XVI and the royal family to the Palais of Tileries to Paris), in the Horse-gear of Tileries in Paris.

Among the daily brought together deputies, three main tendencies, rather moving, end up taking shape: monarchists, the constitutional ones (most) and radical patriots still very minority.

The debates of the Parliament are published by the universal Monitor . After the abolition of the Feudality in the night of August 4th, 1789 and the declaration of the human rights and the citizen (August 26th, 1789), the Parliament votes as of the end of the year the great principles of the Constitution of 1791 which, on the basis of of the national sovereignty and the separation of the capacities, organizes the limitation of the royal capacity and the exclusion of the people of the political decisions.

Reforms

Apart from her constitutional work, the Parliament proceeds to fundamental reforms touching with:

administration: uniformity and decentralization by the creation of 83 departments;
justice

equality in front of the law,
removal of the Parliaments,
elections of the judges,
abolition of torture;

finances

equality in front of the tax,
suppression of the indirect taxes,
nationalization of the goods of the clergy guaranteed by the Assignat S);

the economy

suppression of the interior customs, tolls,
suppression corporations (Decree of Allarde,
decisions supporting the economic liberalism

The Constituent one still adopts other measures:

It secularizes the civil statue entrusted to municipal officers,
It institutes the civil wedding,
It admits the divorce and removes the right of seniority.

On the religious questions, the constituent Assembly adopts the following measures:

It abolishes the restrictive laws with regard to the Protestant ,
It grants the citizenship to the Jews,
It abolishes the monastic vows, and removes the regular orders except education and charity works (February 13rd, 1790),
It adopts the civil Constitution of the clergy (July 12th, 1790).

She votes the first Constitution from September 3rd to 13rd 1791. Based on the principle of the sovereignty of the people and the separation of the capacities, it instituted in France a constitutional monarchy. September 13rd, the king accepts it.

The executive power was exerted by the king of the French, Louis XVI chose his ministers who were not responsible in front of the Parliament, directed the foreign policy and could in spite of the principle of the separation of the capacities to give or refuse its sanction with the laws (suspensive veto 4 years with more). The legislative power was exerted by the single Parliament, elected for two years with the Suffrage censitaire. This one had the initiative and the vote of the laws, establishing and controlling the tax, deciding war and peace and met itself without convocation. The independence of the judicial power was ensured by the election of the magistrates.

The constituent Assembly separated on September 30th, 1791, and was immediately replaced by the legislative Parliament. The characters who had the most influence in this assembly are Mirabeau, Barnave, Cazalès, Maury Duport, Lafayette, the Lameth, etc

Fate of the constitution

Written with the profit of the easiest citizens, and planned for ten years, this Constitution did not survive the insurrection of the August 10th, 1792. The difficulties since the great fraternity expressed at the time of the Festival of the Federation (July 14th 1790), indeed accumulated:

the Constitution of 1791 was already called in question by the escape of the royal family and its arrest in Varennes (June 1791),
the Fusillade of Field-of-March (July 17th 1791) definitively separated the moderate ones (Breaking into leaf them) from the Jacobins,
the powers of Europe worried about the “right of the people to have themselves” proclaimed by revolutionary France.

Chronology

1789

August 4th: abolition of all the feudal privileges
23 and 24: decree proclaiming the freedom of the religious opinions and freedom of the press
October 12th: translation of the National Assembly in Paris
November 2nd: declaration which the goods of the clergy are placed at the disposal of the State like goods * December 17th: creation of a paper money under the name of assignats

1790

January 4th: division of the kingdom in 83 departments
February 13rd 1790: suppression of the Monastic orders
March 17th: decree for the sale of the national goods to amount of 400 million
June 19th: removal of all the titles of nobility
July 12th: civil Constitution of the clergy
November 27th: relative order with the oath-taking of any ecclesiastic public servant

1791

June 5th: decree which removes with the king the right to make grace
July 15th: declaration that the king, who had tried to flee, will be suspended of his functions until one to him presented the constitutional act
July 30th: abolition of the orders of knighthood.
September 3rd: the first constitution is adopted by the National Assembly

Source and bibliography

Source

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