6. The attempts to establish a Constitutional Monarchy

Question 1

What were the 5 main areas of reform made by the National Assembly?

Answer 1

Church, Political, Administrative, Economic/Social and Judicial.

Question 2

Why did the Assembly attempt Church reforms?

Answer 2

Clashed with the Enlightenment and showed the privileges of the Ancien Regime.
Religious revolutionaries eg Seiyes wanted the Church to be purely spiritual.
Wanted to use the wealth of the Church to temporarily boost the states wealth.

Question 3

What were 3 early changes made to the Church?

Answer 3

Pluralism was abolished.
Tithe, Church tax and Don Gratuit were abolished.
All Church property was nationalised.

Question 4

What piece of constitution was made July 1790?

Answer 4

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy.
Made it so each department had a bishop, reduced the bishoprics from 135 to 83.
Clergymen would become paid state officials.
Bishops and Priests would become elected.

Question 5

What happened after the Civil Constitution of the Clergy?

Answer 5

Priests and Bishops that refused the oath were deprived of salaries and were considered refractory priests/counter revolutionaries.
Had widespread criticism from Bishops and the Pope.

Question 6

What was the impact of Church reforms?

Answer 6

Destroyed national unity. Many of the Clergy fled abroad. Led to counter-revolution and civil war.

Question 7

What political system did the National Assembly want?

Answer 7

The majority wanted a constitutional monarchy.

Question 8

What were the major political reforms made in the period?

Answer 8

Created a system of representative democracy with an elected governing body, the King and Ministers as an executive and an independent Judiciary.
Had one Assembly chamber.
Granted the King a suspensory veto.
Had active citizens (61%) but only around 1% were ‘electors’ eg nominated deputies and judges. Passive citizens only received civil rights.
The constitution was accepted by Louis September 1791.

Question 9

What was abolished to make administration more straightforward in France?

Answer 9

Old Provinces destroyed and replaced with 83 departments. These were governed by communes. These each had an elected council of 36.

Question 10

What was the aim with administrative reform and what were its shortcomings?

Answer 10

Wanted a decentralised government to prevent monarchical absolutism.
Rural communes had a lack of literate people to fill the offices.
The restrictions to being an active citizen meant it was dominated by the bourgeoisie.

Question 11

What was abolished to improve the judicial system?

Answer 11

The old Parlements, Seigneural Courts and Church Courts.

Question 12

What new courts were created in Revolution era France?

Answer 12

District Courts to deal with criminal cases.
Each departement had a court in its capital with a dual, 12-man jury system.
Centralised High Court of Appeal.

Question 13

What were 3 new legal rights granted to every citizen in France?

Answer 13

Every arrested person was brought before a judge within 24 hours.
The accused were assisted by a lawyer.
Torture, branding and hangings were made illegal (by 1792 only guillotines were used).

Question 14

What were some early fiscal economic policies used by the government?

Answer 14

The use of assignats which could be exchanged for church land. Used to pay off the Assembly’s debts. However started to raise inflation due to excessive printing.
There was a one-off ‘patriot contribution’ of 25% for anyone who earned over 400 livres.
Took over 2 years before the informal taxes ‘aides’ taxes were removed.

Question 15

What was the eventual economic restructuring done by the Assembly?

Answer 15

Replaced the taille and vingtieme.
Introduced a land tax, a poll/property tax and a tax on commercial activity.

Question 16

What was the affect of the restructured fiscal policies?

Answer 16

Overall was a fairer system of taxation and provided basis for further reform.

Question 17

What were 3 of the new economic policies in France and their effects?

Answer 17

Internal tariffs disappeared eg grain was deregulated in August 1789.
Emergence of land-owning bourgeoisie helped agriculture as they sought to make farming profitable.
All corporate bodies were abolished in 1789 which were restricting trade in cities.
There was no overall drop in price at these changes as a wave of capitalists started to gain from these new changes.

Question 18

What were some of the strengths of social change in the period?

Answer 18

Titles, venality and privileges were abolished. Everyone became a ‘citizen’ and enjoyed social equality.
Individual rights and liberties were now protected under law and there was greater social mobility.
Reduction in the Churches power

Question 19

What were some limitations of social change in the period?

Answer 19

Divisions of wealth, gender and office quickly replaced birth rights. Active citizens had more rights and men could benefit more than women.
The law of June 1791 banned workers from striking or forming trade unions.
The real winners were the bourgeoisie.