Shaping a New Society Through Reform

Question 1

When was the Decree Establishing Electoral and Administrative Assemblies passed, and what did it do?

Answer 1

December 1789. Transferred administrative powers held by the king to local communes. Municipal officers, such as mayor, were elected. Gave local autonomy on tax collection, public works, law, education etc.

Question 2

Who were active citizens?

Answer 2

Male, over 25, tax paying, property owning. Excludes poor and peasantry.

Question 3

When was the distinction of active and passive citizens made?

Answer 3

22 December 1789

Question 4

‘The most glaring departure from a promise of universal rights

Answer 4

‘was contained in the limits…placed on political participation. Having created an all-embracing concept of citizenship in the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the deputies consequently decided that some were more equal than others.’ Schama

Question 5

‘Who are the truly active citizens?

Answer 5

‘Those who have taken the Bastille…while the faineants of the court and the clergy…are merely vegetables.’ Desmoulins

Question 6

When were all hereditary and noble titles abolished?

Answer 6

19 June 1790

Question 7

How was the ideal of equality reflected in the reorganisation of courts?

Answer 7

No different courts for different social classes. Judges had to be elected.

Question 8

What did the Assembly introduce to change the way criminal cases were tried?

Answer 8

Juries

Question 9

What was abolished in the search for evidence?

Answer 9

Torture

Question 10

Why did the Assembly abolish the Segur Ordinance of 1781?

Answer 10

It prevented all those who didnt have noble firth of four generations on their fathers side of becoming officers in the army.

Question 11

Where were principles of promotion of merit applied?

Answer 11

Public service, professions, and trades.

Question 12

How did the lives of soldiers improve?

Answer 12

Paid more.

Question 13

What replaced the white lilies of the Bourbon monarchy as the national flag?

Answer 13

Tricolour cockade.

Question 14

What did William Doyle think of the new army?

Answer 14

The same, under a new flag.

Question 15

When was the Decree Providing for A Uniform Tariff passed in the Assembly? What did it contain?

Answer 15

31 October 1790. Internal customs duties and indirect taxes are abolished, declared harmful to commerce and liberty. Replaced by uniform tariff on imports and exports.

Question 16

How did a historian describe the Single Uniform Tariff on Imports and Exports?

Answer 16

Stewart: “The most important contribution of the Constituent Assembly”

Question 17

When did the National Convention pass the Decree Introducing Uniform Weights and Measures?

Answer 17

August 1793

Question 18

What were the taille, capitation, and vingiteme replaced by?

Answer 18

Contribution fonciere: Tax on land, similar to territorial subvention.
Patente: Tax on commercial profits
Contribution mobiliere: Tax on movables

Question 19

What was the Le Chapelier law and when was it passed?

Answer 19

Abolishes all associations of workmen. Forbade the right to strike or organise. Citizens planning on organising or striking were fined, deprived of citizenship. Passed in June 1791.

Question 20

How did Stewart describe the Le Chapelier Law?

Answer 20

The deputies of the Assembly left the workers ‘at the mercy of their employers.’

Question 21

How did McPhee describe the Le Chapelier Law?

Answer 21

‘Demonstrates a commitment to economic liberalism.’

Question 22

How did Schama describe the Le Chapelier Law?

Answer 22

‘Enacted less out of ideological fixation with free trade than out of a desire to protect the citizens common interest against the particularism the strikes were held to represent.’

Question 23

How did Schama describe the general Reform Package?

Answer 23

‘Between 1789 and 1792 the Revolution produced no significant transfer of social power….As for the elite…those who recast themselves as servants of the state…were able to make the metamorphosis from nobles to notables.’

Question 24

How did Doyle describe the general Reform Package?

Answer 24

‘Everyone..had expected France to emerge profoundly changed. Very few foresaw quite how profound the changes would be….Millions welcomed the end of feudalism and indirect taxes, while… bourgeoisie eagerly seized the opportunity offered to participate in public affair. The work of the Revolutions fist twelve months…had the support of a broad national consensus.’

Question 25

When was the Festival of Federation? Who was a popular figure?

Answer 25

14 July 1790. Lafayette.

Question 26

When was France reorganised into 83 departments for administrative purposes?

Answer 26

February 1970

Question 27

When did the Assembly abolish “all honorary distinctions…deriving from the feudal system”?

Answer 27

March 1790

Question 28

When did the Assembly pass the d’Allard Law and what did this do?

Answer 28

March 1791. Dissolved all guilds.