constitutional monarchy Flashcards
what happened in the champ de mars massacre?
- 11th july 1791 50k people came to champ de mars to sign a republican petition, three days ago they had had the feast of federation which celebrated the fall of the bastille
- the commune, under pressure from the assembly declared martial law
- lafeyette and the national guard fired on the peaceful crowd killing about 50 people
- commune declared martial law remained in place for a month and popular leaders were arrested, Herbert and Danton went into hiding.
- first clash between the 3rd estate and national assembly
- feulliants and moderates became more determined to reach a deal with the king. the feulliants contrilled paris and the assmebly
what happened in the flight to varennes?
- louis appeared as though he was supportive of the revolution
- religion stopped him: he avoided mass by the clergy who had taken the clerical oath
- he was basically a prisoner in paris and couldnt go to saint cloud for easter
- 20th june the royal family left paris in disguise but they were stopped in varenne and brought back to paris
- Louis left a proclamation which stated why he could not support the revolution, he believed the king could not coexist with the National Assembly
what were the consequences of the flihht to varenne?
- louis no longer seemed to understood the changes that had taken place since 1789
- republicanism grew
- many no longer trusted louis
- possibility of a constitutional monarchy was in doubt
- 16th July the assembly voted to suspend the king until the constitution was complete. He could only be restored after he swore to observe it, 290 deputies abstained from voting for it.
- 30k people marched to the National Assembly with a petition from the cordeliers club calling for the kings dismissal
- the jacobins who didn’t want the king deposed left the club to become the feulliants
What happened in the September massacres?
- causes: summer 1792 french armies performance worsened and Lafeyette defected to the Austrains
- Prussians crossed the french frontier, captured Longuly and almost made Paris surrender. The commune called patriots of the revolution to take up arms
- events: concerns about overcrowded prisons, rumours they would kill the population and hand the city over to Prussians
- Marat called for the conspirators to be killed
- 2nd - 7th sept 1100-1400/2000 prisoners murdered by the sans culottes of the sections
- commune and danton made no attempt to stop them as this would require mobilisation of the national guard
- HATRED OF THE GIRONDINS FOR THE JACOBINS, SANS CULOTTES AND MONTEGNARDS AS SAVAGES
What happened in the attack on Tuileries palace?
- 10th august 1792 thousands of people marched on the tuilereis palace. the national guardsmen that were supposed to defend the palace joined the crowds, leaving the palace to the protection of the swiss mercenaries.
- the kig sought refuge in the assembly
- the swiss mercenaries instigated the battle and fired on the protestors, te king had order them to ceasefire
- bloodiest journee, 600 swiss, 90 federes and 300 parisians killed
- the protest was a clear demonstration of a rejection o the assemble and the king
- THE DEPUTIES HAD TO HAND THE KING OVER TO THE COMMUNE, AND THEY IMPRISONED HIM IN THE TEMPLE
- AGREED TO AN ELECTION BY UNIVERSAL MALE SUFFRAGE FOR A NATIONAL CONVENTION + A NEW CONSTITUTION
- COMMUNE CONTROLLED PARIS
What happened to church reforms?
- selling church land to help with the financial crisis. on 2nd nov 1789, church land was nationalised and assignats introduced. this also guaranteed the success of the revolution as those who bought the church lands would have had an interest in maintaining the revolution. it was also hoped that the clergy would as a result support the revolution as they would be dependent on it for their salaries.
- the sale of church lands was brisk and the main beneficiary was bourgeoise
- however the number of peasant smallholders increased by a million between 1789 and 1810, because the bourgeoise would by large lots and sell smaller ones to the peasants.
- august 1789 they assembly abolished tithe, pluralism and ended the privelege of the church of deciding itself how much tax to pay.
- dec 1789 gave civil rights to Protestants, 1791 Jews had civil rights.
Civil constitution of the clergy 12 July 1790:
- each department would form a single diocese, no recognition of any bishop appointed by the pope but not approved by the french state, all priests and bishops would be elected to their posts, all elections to be by ballot, priests to be paid by the state, no absenteeism by priests or bishops.
- before the pope condemned the civil constitution of the clergy, the assembly in nov 1790 declared the clergy must take an oath to the constitution. 7 bishops and 55% of the clergy took the oath. After the pope condemned it in April 1791, many retarcted it.
- 1792 the assembly said that priests who hadn’t taken the oath could be deported
How did the National Assembly reform local government in France?
- divided France into 83 departments, 547 disctricts
- Paris was reformed into 48 sections
What did the nationsal assembly do about the right to vote?
Passive citizens: men over 25 who paid the equivalent of three days of labour in taxes. They could choose electors
Electors: paid 10 days of labour in taxes. This was 50k men could become officials in the canton and department assemblies. Also elected men to the National Assembly
To be eligible to be a deputy in the National Assembly had to pay the equivalent of 54 days manual labour
The system was overall weighte in favour of the wealthy
HOWEEVR 61% of Frenchmen had the right to take part in some elections, in England only 4% of men had this right
At local levels, most peasants had the right to run for office.
These councils would register births marriages and deaths, assess nd collect direct taxes, upkeep of churches and control the national guard.
How did the National Assembly reform taxes?
- couldn’t set up a new system until 1791 and decided the system of direct and indirect taxation should continue until 1791
- outbreaks of violence in Picardy
- the gabelle was abolished in march 1790 and within a year nearly all unpopular indirect taxes except for external customs duties were abolished
- abolished state monopoly on growing and selling tobacco, tax farming
- new direct taxes: contribution fonciere: land tax which had to exceptions, contribution mobiliere: tax on movable goods by active citizens, patente: tax on commercial profits
What was the jacobin club?
+ republican group. Supported a controlled economy
+ began to reject the monarchy
+ Maximilian Robespierre was a key figure
+ end of 1793 over 2000 jacobin clubs in France
+ around 2% of the population had been involved with the club
+ significant as it allowed large numbers of people to become directly involved in the political life of their country
What was the cordeliers club?
+ more radical group than the jacobins and had no membership fee and therefore the upper working class: teachers, shopkeepers skilled artisans could join
+ sans- culottes supported its policies; direct democracy for all voters to choose deputies, recall of deputies, right of insurrection and objected to the distinction between active and passive citizens
+ leaders were Danton, desmoulins, Marat, Brissot, Herbert.
