The French Revolution: Age of Montesquieu (Constitutional Monarchy) - National Assembly
By alyrie_xox
-
The Third Estate declares itself the true National Assembly of France.
-
After finding themselves locked out of their meeting place at Versailles by Louis XVI, the Third Estate then proceeded to meet inside an indoor tennis court. There they took an oath never to separate until a written constitution has been established for France.
-
In the face of solidarity of the Third Estate, King Louis XVI relented and ordered the clergy and nobility to join the Third Estate in the National Assembly.
-
In response to food shortages, soaring bread prices, unemployment, and fear of military oppression, a revolution began. Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille -a royal fortress that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs.
-
A period of panic and riot by peasants and others amid rumours of an “aristocratic conspiracy” by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate. In the spirit of rebellion, peasants attacked manor houses in an effort to destroy the legal records of their feudal obligations; recent enclosure were undone, old common lands were reoccupied, and forests were seized. In the midst of this wave of violence, the middle class responded with a National Guard Militia.
-
Considered as one of the greatest social changes of the Revolution, the National Assembly vote to abolish feudalism in France and declare equality of taxation to all classes as an attempt to stop further violence. This resulted in a peaceful revolution by ending serfdom where it existed and providing exclusive hunting right for nobles, fees for justice, village monopolies, the corvee, and other dues.
-
Once issued, this became the constitutional blueprint for France which would later influence American constitutional ideas as it guaranteed the due process of law (a citizen was innocent until proven guilty). The declaration highlighted natural rights (“liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression"), freedom of expression and religion, taxation rules, separation of powers, and established the title of “citizen” to encompass all French people regardless of class.
-
Occurred shortly after the adoption of ‘Declaration of Right of Man’ which helped to unite the National Assembly by dealing with the issues in relation to the monarch’s power.
-
As shortages of bread continued, women pushed the revolution even further. With the guidance of Jean-Paul Marat, 7000 women marched 12 miles from Paris to Versailles demanding the kind redress their economic problems. Women invaded royal apartments, slaughtered bodyguards all during the search for Queen Marie Antoinette. The King and Queen were then forced to move back to Paris as Louis XVI signed decrees to lower bread prices.
-
As a way to pay off national debt, church property was confiscated which in turn, undermined religious orders and schools.
-
During this time, a national church was established including bishops and dioceses. Convents, monasteries, and archbishops were abolished and it was decided that all clergymen would be paid by the states and elected by all citizens. In addition, the clergy were forced to take a loyalty oath to the new government since the pope had condemned the Revolution. Protestant, Jews, and agnostics were now able to legally take part in the elections.
-
Despite the many changes happening during the 1790s, reform still favoured the middle rather than the lowest classes. The Le Chapelier Law outlawed strikes, workers’ coalitions and assemblies. Royal guilds and monopolies were prohibited and internal tariffs were abolished. ‘Assignats’ became the new paper currency and land previously owned by the church was sold primarily to peasants as a way to pay off the national debt.
-
Since France was now a constitutional monarchy with a unicameral Legislative Assembly, this meant that the middle class now controlled the government through an indirect method of voting and property qualifications and nobility was abolished. With this new system of government, the National Assembly divided France into 83 departments each governed by elected officials; helping to replace old provincial boundary lines.
-
In the effort to avoid having to approve the Constitution of 1791 and to raise a counter revolutionary army with noblemen and seek help from foreign powers, Louis XVI made an attempt to escape France. He was captured (King and Queen became prisoners of the Parisian mobs) and was forced to accept a constitutional monarchy.
