Changing France 1789 ~ 1791 Flashcards
How was France divided by 1790?
83 departments, which were subdivided into 547 districts and 43,360 municipalities/commune, run by elected councils to DECENTRALISE POWER
- communes were grouped into cantons for elections and court hearings
What was the new voting qualification system? (4)
1) eligible as a deputy in the National Assembly, active citizens who pay 54 days of labour in direct taxation
2) electors, active citizens who pay 10 days of labour in local taxes, can elect members of the canton, department assemblies, and deputies of the National Assembly, also eligible to be an official in department assemblies.
3) active citizens, those who pay 3 days of labour in local taxes, can vote for electors
4) passive citizens, those who don’t meet the required taxation amount and have no vote
What are laboureurs?
upper level of peasantry, own ploughs and hire labour for their land
What changed about the control in new councils?
- advantages (3) and disadvantages (3) to this change
bourgeoisie were largely urban, so they took offices in towns, leaving rural communes to laboureurs, small merchants and artisans.
- gain experience in administration
- politicisation
- more opportunities available
However…
- less literate men in rural villages, so poorly done duties in office
- officials in strongly Catholic areas had bias towards priests, and turn a blind eye on their persecution regarding the oath
- many officials resigned due to unfulfillment, leaving the area without an effective local government
What was the new taxation system? (4)
- contribution foncière: a land tax
- contribution mobilière: a tax on movable goods
- patente: a tax on commercial profits
citizens pay according to their ability to do so, and taxes collected by the municipal councils
1789 ~ 1792 regarding business and economy (4)
- in 1790, abolished internal tariffs and implemented the metric system
- abolished guilds (associations of craftsmen or merchants formed for mutual aid and protection, and to further their professional interests)
- trade unions forbidden and strikes declared illegal
- in 1791, nearly 2 million people supported themselves only by begging, shows the extent of the damage by the ancien regime, even the National Assembly did not have enough money to provide relief, so nothing was done
What reforms were there on the legal system? (6)
- one justice of the peace in each canton, who persuades parties to come to an agreement, and judges minor civil cases such as trespassing
- district court dealt with serious civil cases such as property disputes
- criminal court in each department, public trial before a jury
- Court of Appeal at the head, judges elected by department assemblies
- all other judges elected by active citizens, only lawyers for minimum 5 years are eligible, to ensure proper qualification
- March 1792, guillotine approved as an execution method by the Legislative Assembly
What is the timeline of Assemblies by 1791?
- what is different about the Legislative Assembly?
National Assembly, 20 June 1789
National Constituent Assembly, 9 July 1789, dissolved on 30 September 1791 and succeeded by the elected Legislative Assembly on 1 October 1791
Legislative Assembly:
- mostly bourgeois
- left: mostly Jacobins, Girondins
- right: Feuillants
- centre: neutral party, the largest group
- suspicion and hatred among deputies due to fear of counter-revolutionary plots and suspicions regarding Louis XVI’s acceptance of the constitution, his true motives
Explain the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
- approved on 12 July 1790
- dioceses align with departments, redundancy of clergy, only parish priests and bishops remaining in activity
- abolished tithes, priests and bishops elected and paid by the State, stricter regulations to prevent absenteeism
- Pope delayed giving a verdict on the constitution due to delicate negotiations over Avignon, a territory he controlled in southern France
- 27 November 1790, the Assembly decreed the clergy must take an oath to the constitution, which split the clergy
- Pope condemned the constitution in early 1791, many who took the oath retracted it
- resulting in 2 Catholic Churches, the constitutional Church of constitutional priests that accepted the revolution, and the non-juring Church of refractory priests, accepted by the Pope but rejected by the revolution.
What was the Constitution of 1791?
3 September 1791
Louis XVI…
- had the right to appoint his ministers and military commanders (candidates could not be deputies of the Assembly)
- suspensive veto, not applicable to financial or constitutional matters
- needed the Constituent Assembly’s consent before declaring war
- his office is subordinate to the Constituent Assembly as there is no authority superior to the law
Describe the political clubs during this period of time
1) Jacobins
- radical, left wing
- high entrance fee
- sans culottes were extreme supporters
2) Cordeliers
- even more radical, left wing
- no membership fee
- immense support among working class
- bourgeois leaders
- members of these clubs generally consisted of liberal professionals, such as teachers and officials
- labourers did not have the spare time for politics, so they rarely joined
3) Feuillants
- Jacobins split after the flight to Varennes, those who wanted the king deposed joined the Cordeliers, those who did not set up this new club
- constitutional monarchists
Describe the Flight to Varennes and its results
- Louis XVI as a devout Catholic and regretted accepting the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
- felt restricted by the Constituent Assembly
- 20 June 1791, left Paris with his family, recognised by the local postmaster at Varennes, and was brought back to Paris
- hoped to go to the border, under the protection of the military commander and with support of Emperor Leopold II & troops, and be in a more advantageous position to negotiate with the Constituent Assembly
- as a result Louis XVI lost all his remaining credibility and support from the people
- the Constituent Assembly did not want a republic, fearing civil war and war with European monarchs
- suspended the king until the constitution was completed
Describe the Champ de Mars massacre
17 July 1791
- 50,000 people celebrating the fall of the Bastille at Champ de Mars, and to sign a REPUBLICAN PETITION
- political demonstration by the poorer segment of the Paris population
- under pressure by Assembly, Commune declared martial law, sending Lafayette and National Guards to disperse the crowd
- Guards fired on peaceful and unarmed crowd, killing 50 people
Explain counter revolution at this time
- 6000 emigres by the end of 1791
- Assembly passed 2 laws: all non-juring clergy are suspects, all emigres who did not return by 1 January 1792 would forfeit their property and be considered traitors
- Louis XVI vetoed these 2 laws, decreasing his popularity below ground atp
Explain Louis XVI’s church visit
- after accepting the civil constitution of clergy, tried to leave the Palace to get communion from a refractory priest
- crowd stopped him and he couldn’t go lol
