Constitutional monarchy: reforming France 1789-92 Flashcards
What system did the Assembly want after 1789?
They tried to apply the principles of the declaration of rights to give France a uniform, decentralised, representative and humanitarian system which treated people equally and with dignity.
What does decentralised mean?
Decision-making devolved from the centre to the regions of the country.
What is a constitutional monarchy?
Where the powers of the crown are limited by a constitution.
Most people wanted this.
What are departments?
On February 26 1790, 83 new divisions for local administration in France were created to replace the old divisions.
Which areas would change happen?
Local government
Taxation and finance
Economy
Legal system
The Church
Constitution
How was the local government reformed?
The decrees of December 1789, February and May 1790 said:
France was divided into 83 departments.
Departments were subdivided into 547 districts and 43,360 communes.
All these administrative divisions, except cantons, were run by elected councils.
The local government in Paris was reformed into 48 sections.
What was the aim for reforming the local government?
It involved significantly restructuring it to ensure that power was decentralised.
This was to make it more difficult for the king to recover the power he held before the Revolution.
To replace the chaos of the Ancien Regime with a coherent structure.
They wanted to ensure that the principle of democracy was introduced to all levels, whereby officials would be elected and be responsible to those who elected them.
What is a commune?
The smallest administrative unit in France.
Was local government reform positive or negative and why?
Mainly positive because:
The principle of democracy was introduced to all levels.
Locally elected councils now ran the divisions.
The power is in the hands of the local people.
However, many areas were now run by inexperienced people, some of whom were illiterate.
What are active citizens?
Citizens who, depending on the amount of taxes paid, could vote and stand as deputies.
A law in December 1789 introduced this concept, of which there were three tiers.
What was the real intention of the Assembly with right to vote?
The deputies did not intend that those who had taken part in the popular protests should have a direct role in government.
What are passive citizens?
Approximately 2.7 million citizens who enjoyed the civic rights provided by the Declaration of the Rights of Man, but paid less than the equivalent of three days labour in local taxes.
What is the first tier of active citizens?
Men over 25 who paid the equivalent of three days’ labour in local taxes.
Estimated in 1790 that almost 4.3 million Frenchmen were in this category.
In reality, the only thing active citizens could do was to choose electors.
What is the second tier of active citizens?
Electors - active citizens who paid the equivalent of ten days’ labour in local taxes.
About 50,000 men met this qualification.
They elected members of the canton and department assemblies, and could become officials there.
They also elected the deputies to the National Assembly.
What is the third tier of active citizens?
To be eligible to become a deputy in the National Assembly, an active citizen had to pay the equivalent to 54 days’ manual labour, in direct taxation.
Most Frenchmen could not meet this qualification.
Who was in control of the new councils?
In the south, bourgeois landowners.
In the north, the bourgeoise was largely urban and took office in towns.
In the rural communes, the laboureurs, small merchants and artisans.
People belonging to social groups who had never held any public office now had the opportunity.
In 1789-99, a million people were elected to councils and gained experience in local administration.
What were the responsibilities of the new councils?
Had an enormous burden of work:
Assess and collect direct taxes
Maintain law and order
Carry out public works
See to the upkeep of churches
Control the National Guard.
Later on:
Administer the clerical oath of loyalty
Register births, marriages and deaths
Requisition grain
Keep watch on those suspected to oppose the revolution.
Why were many areas left without an effective local government?
In the towns there was an adequate supply of literate, talented people to provide a competent administration.
In the villages, the men were illiterate, so rural communes often carried out their duties badly.
In strongly Catholic areas, officials didn’t like persecuting priests who refused the oath of loyalty.
Consequently, many resigned and left the spaces empty.
Why did taxation and finance need reforming?
After the royal administration collapsed in 1789, very few taxes were collected.
The Assembly needed money quickly, especially when it decided that venal office-holders should be compensated.
A new tax system could not be set up immediately, so the old system continued until 1791, until there was outbreaks of violence due to its unpopularity.
After this, all indirect taxes were abolished.
Why was church land sold?
Church land was nationalised on 2nd November 1789 and assignats introduced to:
Provide money for the State in the period before and after the new system was introduced.
Guarantee the success of revolution, those who bought church land wouldn’t want the ancien regime restored.
Hope that the clergy would support the new regime, as they now depended on it for their salaries.
Assignats would be issued which the public could use to purchase the land.
Who bought the Church land?
The main beneficiaries were the bourgeoisie as they had the ready money. They often resold it in smaller quantities to the peasants.
This was necessary as the church land was sold off in large plots.
25% of the land had been brought by 1799: peasants had brought 52% of this.
1/3 of the peasants were first time land owners, so the money did not only go to the laboureurs.
What things were abolished for the tax reforms?
Indirect taxes
The State monopoly on growing, distributing and selling tobacco
The old direct taxes
Tax farming
Which new taxes were introduced?
January 1791:
The contribution fonciere: a land tax with no exemptions or special privileges.
The contribution mobiliere: a tax on moveable goods such as grains, payable by active citizens.
The patente: a tax on commercial profits.
Were the taxation and finance reforms positive or negative?
Both,
It was a fairer system that benefitted the poor.
Citizens paid according to their ability to do so.
And the system remained through most of the 19th century.
But: No systematic valuation of land, as a large number of officials was needed, but this cost too much.
It was easier to avoid paying direct taxes.
Tax rolls were based on the ancien regime, so great regional variations remained.
