Chapter 2: Constitutional Monarchy, October 1789 - August 1792 Flashcards
Revolutionary Assemblies (Dates & Government)
National Assembly 17th JUNE 1789 renamed the National Constituent Assembly on 9 JULY 1789 = thus purpose was to make a constitution as promised on 20th JUNE 1789.
MAY - 17 JUNE 1789 : Estates General (advisory board called by Louis XVI)
17 JUNE - 9 JULY 1789 : National Assembly (claimed to govern on behalf of the nation)
9 JULY 1789 - SEPTEMBER 1791 : National Constituent Assembly (passed reforms & drew up the new constitution)
30 SEPTEMBER 1791 - SEPTEMBER 1792 : Legislative Assembly (shared power with King)
SEPTEMBER 1792 - 1795 : National Convention (ruled revolutionary France)
1795 - 1799 CONSTITUTION OF YEAR III : Council of 500 & Council of Elders (Directory governed with two legislative chambers)
Reforms 1789-91
Took place in a time of general change within Europe: financial and administrative reforms passed in England by William Pitt from 1784, the ‘Enlightened Despotism’ of Monarchs such as Frederick the Great of Prussia, Josef II of Austria and Catherine the Great of Russia. thus France was modernising to join the rest of Europe, however, other countries had made reforms from the top down/monarchs had taken initiative, while Louis had been forced.
STATE REFORMS
- Political and administrative reforms.
- Taxation and finance.
- Judicial reforms.
- Economic and social change.
CHURCH REFORMS
- Civil constitution of the clergy.
- The clerical oath.
Reforms of the State 1789-91
- France divided into 83 departments for elections & local government, each divided into 547 districts, 4872 cantons and about 44,000 communes that would be run by elected councils
- all ‘active’ citizens (men over 25 paying certain level of tax) could vote ( 4 mill vs 3 mill ‘passive’)
- more power given to local areas to safeguard against a royal recovery of power
- everyone paid tax (all paid land tax & tax on commercial profits, just ‘active’ paid tax on moveable goods)
- assignants (paper money) introduced
- sale of Church lands to finance government & create people with vested interest in supporting Revolutionary & leave clergy dependent on State for salary (become supporters)
- Justice of the Peace in each canton, trial by jury, torture & mutilations abolished, justice free & equal to all
- June 1790, nobility abolished
- September 1790, parlements abolished
- privileges of trade guilds, town corporations & pays d’election abolished
- ‘laissez faire’ = internal customs barriers abolished
- April 1971, Loi Allard abolished guilds that regulated craft industries
- June 1791, Loi le Chapelier banned trade unions & made strikes illegal
Reforms of the Church 1789-91
CIVIL CONSTITUTION OF THE CLERGY, 12 JULY 1790
- Bishops’ dioceses reorganised to coincide with new 83 departments
- all other clerical posts, apart from parish priests, were removed
- clerical posts chosen by election
- All church property within the property of the state.
- Abuses, such as pluralism, were abolished.
- The clergy would be paid by the state instead of collecting the tithe.
- Monastic orders that provided neither education, nor charitable work was suppressed.
- Protestants were given full civil rights.
THE CLERICAL OATH, 27 NOVEMBER 1790
- Required all clergy to take an oath to the Constitution
PROBLEMS…
- All church reform was highly controversial, and threatened the general consensus of opinion in favour of reform, INTERNAL CLASH OF RELIGION VS REVOLUTION.
- Set the king against the revolution.
- Many clergy opposed the Constitution, and the call for a church synod was denied.
- The clergy weren’t happy that Catholicism was not made the official religion of France.
- The pope came out against the clerical oath.
- Over 50% refused to take the oath and so called ‘refractory clergy’ and were removed from their posts.
The Constitution
September 1791
- ‘King of the French’ not ‘King of France’.
- King given annual grant of 25 million livres for his expenses.
- King was forbidden to levy forces against the constitution, or to leave the country.
- King chooses the cabinet & ministers.
- King had the right to veto any measure for five years.
- The king must take an oath to the Constitution will be seem to have abdicated.
- The single, elected ‘Legislative Assembly’ proposed and passed laws, and would be chosen by active citizens (men over 25, paid tax is equivalent to 3 days wages). Every two years the active citizens would meet in local assemblies to select electors. The total electorate would be 4 million and exclude passive citizens.
- The electors would choose 745 representative to the Legislative Assembly.
- No ministers, officials or judges could be representative in the new assembly.
- No existing members of the National constitute assembly could be a member of the new legislative assembly.
- No tax privileges or hereditary titles, citizens had natural rights like freedom of movement, assembly, speech, and writing.
- Statement of intention for a new system of poor relief, public education, and a new code of law.
Successes of the Reforms 1789-91
Seen as a successful : in keeping with demands of the cahiers, and of the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man
- ending privilege / tax / novel status / feudal rights / justice = interest of the nation = equality
- greater efficiency & modernisation: local government, continued measures towards free economic activity under Turgot & legal reforms under Brienne = hope for economy
- flow of / differences in ideas able without censoring by Church/State = seemed enlightened
- restriction of king’s power & natural rights = hope for a path of progression and stability with links to the past through Monarchy & Church (now supported by State) = Paris still a cultural center
- 4 million active citizens was much larger electorate than Britain = progressive
Limitations of the Reforms 1789-91
Population as a whole didn’t benefit as much as the middle classes:
- LACK OF CONTINUITY : exclude members of Constituent from new Legislative Assembly = weaken the Constitutional Monarchy already (more radical political ideas flowing = more changes wanted by some…)
- poorer people as ‘passive’ citizens without the vote = class distinction
- Women excluded from Constitution & slavery in French colonies not ended
- little done to relieve poverty = 2 million still begging to survive
- church reforms worrying for Catholics = divided France / priests who didn’t take the Oath
- rural-urban divide : peasantry barely represented in Constituent Assembly & were suspicious of new local govt
- faster & further reform than nobels & king wanted = émigrés migrated & King’s position worried other European monarchs = isolated
- royal veto = potential clash
Why did the Constitutional Monarchy fail?
Monarchy & Legislative Assembly suspended September 1792 (along with mob violence, war & more extreme National Convention = PERIOD OF TERROR!!!)
- The growth of political discussions and clubs.
- The flight to Varennes.
- The legislative assembly.
- Economic unrest.
- The war against Prussia and Austria.
The growth of political discussions and clubs.
Cordeliers
Founded in April 1790, by middle-class radicals, but its low entry free attracted working-class members. Members included Danton & Desmoulins.
Jacobins
Founded late 1789, with a middle-class membership that split in July 1791, with the more moderate constitutional monarchists leaving to form the Feuillants. Dominated first by Brisset & the Girondins, and then more extreme radicals led by Robespierre. Shut down in July 1794.
Feuillants
More conservative politicians, formed the Friends of the Constitution, led by Barnave & gained king’s confidence - ousted by Girondins over war.
The flight to Varennes
20TH JUNE 1791 - Royal Family left Paris in disguise & travelled East to join loyal troops under royalist commander Bouillé. Why?
- ISSUE OF RELIGION: by 1791, Louis was obviously avoiding church service where Mass was celebrated by clergy who has sworn the Oath
- PRISONER: when royal family tried to leave Paris in April to spend Easter at Saint Cloud, crowds blocked them in & National Guard ignored orders to clear their way
RESULTS…
- Royal Family too slow = stopped at Varennes & brought back, Parisian crowds watched in silence & Louis had left behind a proclamation denouncing the Revolution
- His actions showed Louis hadn’t understood how popular the changes since 1789 were.
- Escape provoked a wave of unrest in the countryside = mini great fear.
- Foreign powers concerned for King safety.
- 6000 noble army officers left the country to join the émigré nobles in Germany, who were massing forces to rescue the King.
- Republicanism started to grow, and end of monarchy calls started as many lost trust.
- BUT lie was accepted by assembly that Louis had been adopted by royalists, so seemed to accept the new constitution = not his fault (still doubted by some)
- led to Cordeliers organising mass protest against Monarchy 17TH JULY 1791 = CHAMPS DE MARS = 50,000 attended, National Guard called to maintain order (showed govt could in part rely on armed forces to suppress popular action) and 50 killed & rest dispersed when crowd was fired upon = Brissot & Danton fled & Cordeliers club shut down
The legislative assembly’s flaws & why it led to its failure
After elections, on 1 OCTOBER 1791 745 new deputies met = well-off, mostly from bourgeoisie, only few were nobels or clergy BUT all lacked experience as couldn’t be from old National Constituent Assembly.
Many had a lack of faith in King after Varennes & the queen though they were “scoundrels, madmen & fools”.
Economic unrest 1791
- Bad harvest in autumn of 1791.
- Disturbances in northern France and food riots in Paris in January and February 1792.
- West Indies trade and supplies of sugar had been hit by a slave revolt in Saint Dominic.
- Unemployment resulting from the flight of so many nobles, which hit the luxury trades in Paris.
- New paper money not widely accepted = financial problems.
As in 1789, popular unrest was allied to political unrest = sans-culottes.
The war against Prussia and Austria
KEY ELEMENT in failure of Constitutional Monarchy
- AUGUST 1791 = Austria & Prussia issued Pillnitz Decleration, threatening combined military intervention in French affairs in support of the King
- threat of émigré troops under Comte d’Artois, Louis’ brother, on NE frontier made revolutions suspicious
- Brissotins / Girondins supported war = argued war would end threat of émigrés & defer foreign invasion & unite nation behind Revolution = moderate leader like Barnave left politics!
- King supported war = replaced moderate Feuillants ministres with Girondins in March 1972 (WIN-WIN either would appear strong & patriotic or restoration of power of monarchy)
- War declared against Austria in April 1792, and against Prussia in June and. July = Brunswick manifesto (pressures commander threatens French civilians in Paris, if the royal family is harmed). In 1793, Spain, Portugal, Britain and the Dutch republic join the war.
Results of the Prussia & Austria war
EVENTS:
- 1792 Prussian forces take Verdun & in September first major French victory at Valmy.
- 1793 British land at Toulon, where they are driven off by Napoleon.
- In 1794, French are victorious at Fleurus, occupy Belgium, the Rhineland, and part of Holland.
- 1795, the Dutch republic is occupied by the French.
BUT…
- almost half the officers of the French army had become émigrés, and its soldiers were demoralised = General Dillon murdered by own men / Queen passing military secrets to Austria
- King would not support assembly’s security measures = 2 laws passed which he vetoed = one made not swearing the clerical oath a crime, the second demanded the confiscation of the property of any émigrés.
- King also dismissed leading Girondins from the government on 13TH JUNE 1972= appeared to be obstructing the work of the legislative assembly = increased in unpopularity = 20TH JUNE
- When the king vetoed a proposal to call provincial troops in to defend the capital = 10TH AUGUST
How great were the chances of the Constitutional Monarchy working?
YES
- King had sworn to accept new constitution
- many able & moderate ministers
- Britains constitutional monarchy worked = maybe could have in time of peace?
NO
- Louis couldn’t accept great loss of power (PLUS embittered Marie Antoinette)
- Assembly & Public couldn’t forget Flight to Varennes = mistrust
- King’s reluctance to confiscate émigré property & issue of priests hard to resolve = VETO!
- Ongoing financial problems
- émigrés & foreign powers as constant threat, pressure from extreme right & left!
- THE WAR!!!! Showed influence of pressure of radicals, inexperienced assembly and King’s poor judgement / lack of willingness to be constitutional monarch = entry into war showed that there was not enough political wisdom to make the whole thing work!
- What made popular action from 1789 - 92 so effective/important was the failure of resolute state resistance, because of fear that the armed forces would not be loyal/prolonged civil war
