The Constituent Assembly Flashcards
Not needed for A-Level exms
What did the Constituent Assembly work on between 1789-91?
Replacing the governmental and administrative structure.
What two things was the new constitution based on?
The king who retained ‘supreme power’ but only a four year veto on law and an elected national assembly.
What happened to the right to vote?
It was restricted and citizens were divided into two groups- “active citizens” and “passive citizens”- only “active citizens” could vote.
Who were active citizens?
Men over 25 who had lived in one place for a year, paid the equivalent of 3 days labour in taxes and had the right to vote in the first stage of both local and national elections.
What was an individual required to do in order to stand for office or vote in the second stage of elections?
Pay the equivalent of 10 days labour in taxes.
What did someone have to do to become a deputy in the National Assembly?
Pay the equivalent of 50 days labour in taxes which was known as the marc d’argent- a silver mark or 52 livres.
What percentage of men and women had the right to vote in the first stage of elections?
61% of French men and no women.
Out of 100, how many men were eligible to stand for deputy?
1/100.
What happened to the local administration?
It was reorganised and decentralised under a new three tier system of departements, districts and communes.
How many departements were there?
83.
How many districts were subdivided from departements?
547.
How many communes were subdivided from districts?
43,360.
How were officials elected?
Voting by active citizens.
What were councils responsible for?
Law and order within their localities and a range of specific duties.
What were four duties that councils were responsible for?
- The assessment and collection of taxes
- The construction of public amenities such as roads
- Maintenance of churches
- Supervision of the local national guard
What happened to local governments?
They fell largely into the hands of the educated bourgeoisie- men of some wealth but selected on their merits.
What two problems occurred and why?
- There were insufficient educated men to fill offices
2. In some rural communes there were too few literate people.
What legal system was established?
Single legal system established.
What three forms of violence were forbidden?
Torture, branding and hanging forbidden.
What was the form of death penalties?
All death penalties in the form of decapitation- formerly only a privilege of nobles.
What were the new law courts based on?
The local departements.
What happened to tribunals?
Tribunals were established at each level of local governments, plus a central court of appeal and high court for cases of treason.
What would justices of the peace do?
At the lowest level, they would deal with minor civil cases.
Where did more serious cases go?
District courts.
How were judges and magistrates elected?
Elected by active citizens from a panel of suitably qualified candidates.
How were judges of the court of appeal elected?
They were elected by departements.
How many jurors would there be for criminal cases?
12 citizens within each departement.
Why was financial reform essential?
To rebuild the economy, finance the government and put France in a stronger position.
What did the Assembly believe and what did these beliefs lead to?
Too many thought taxation as gone for good and attempts to impose new taxes were therefore met with resistance and so the assembly was forced to rely on short term measures.
What was the public response to taxes?
Such opposition that the gabelle (salt tax) was withdrawn in March 1790 and nearly all other unpopular indirect taxes within the next year.
What were the tailles and vingtieme tax replaced with?
A new tax on land and property in 1791, similar to that proposed by Calonne.
When was free trade in grain introduced?
August 1789.
What happened to internal tariffs?
They disappeared.
What happened to the system of weights and measures?
A unified system of weights and measures was established.
What happened to restrictive guilds, trade unions and strikes?
Old restrictive guilds (groups of skilled workers) disappeared in 1791 and trade unions and strikes were declared illegal.
What was announced in November 1789 to gain short term finance?
That church land was to be sold off for the benefit of the state. In return the government undertook to pay the salaries of the clergy directly and to take over the church’s role in education and poor relief.
What happened to nobles who emigrated that had property?
It was confiscated and sold.
Why were assignats issued?
To aid the purchase of land, these became a form of paper currency, which could be acquired by anyone and used for ordinary business transactions.
What happened when too many assignats were printed?
Inflation and prompted later economic disorder.
What was the outcome of the new tax system?
The peasants paid less overall and since exemptions had been removed a more just system had been created.
What did the sale of church and emigre land provide?
Income in the short term and had the additional benefit of binding though who bought these lands in support of the revolution.
Who were the Jacobins?
A radical political club led by Robespierre that led the revolutionary government from mid-1794 to mid-1794 and wanted a Republic.
What did the Jacobins support?
The Constitutional Monarchy.
How many members were there?
By July 1790 there were 1,200 members in the Parisian club.
What happened to the membership fee?
They charged a substantial fee so it was mostly dominated by the Bourgeoisie.
Who were the Cordeliers?
A more radical than the Jacobins political group.
Who were the founders of the Cordeliers club?
Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins.
What did they not support?
The constitutional monarchy.
What did they believe about the vote?
That everyone should have the vote and France should be a direct democracy.
Who could join the Cordeliers?
Anyone could join because they didn’t have a membership fee.
Who were the majority of the members?
The vast majority were working class.
Who was Desmoulins?
A revolutionary journalist
Who was Danton?
A member of the bourgeoisie who became a minister for justice when the republic was declared and France went to war.
What role did Jean-Pail Marat play in the Cordeliers?
He was a spokesperson for them and a journalist that published articles that attacked the Ancien Regime.
What was the name of the newspaper Marat wrote?
L’Ami des Peuple - a radical paper which attacked the Ancien Regime.
Who was Jacques-Renee Herbert?
A recognised prominent leader of the crowd who published radical newspapers.
What was the impression that Louis gave to France and his ministers?
Because he was reluctant to accept change, he gave the impression that he was buying time to re-exert his authority.
What was the flight to Varennes?
A failed attempt of Louis and his family to escape their house arrest in Paris and to create a counter-revolution at the head of loyal troops under royalist officers.
When did the flight to Varennes happen?
20-21st June 1791.
What did Louis’ flight highlight?
His untrustworthiness and his unworkability in the newly implemented constitution.
What was one of the rumours that was circulating about Louis’ flight?
That he intended to travel to montmedy in Lorraine, where he hoped to gain the protection of the royalist military commander and from this strengthened position renegotiate the terms of the constitution.
What did Louis’ brother claim?
That he was to leave France and return with the backing of his brother-in-law and the Austrian armies.
Where did Louis reach before he was taken back to Paris in disgrace?
Varennes (30 miles short of the border).
What did his flight destroy?
His last remaining support and Parisians began to discuss the idea of a republic.
What did the more moderate members of the assembly not support?
A republic.
Why did the more moderate members of the assembly not support a republic?
Feared civil war and opposition from European monarchies
The king HAD shown his unreliability and a constitutional monarchy looked impossible
When was the vote to temporarily suspend the authority of Louis?
16th July 1791.
What did moderate Jacobins not support?
Dethroning the king.
With the divide amongst the Jacobins, what did the Jacobins who didn’t support Louis’ dethroning do?
Broke away to form the Feuillant club.
What did radical Jacobins and Cordeliers petition for?
The king’s removal.
What was the Champs de Mars?
A meeting organised by the Cordeliers club to gain signatures for another petition.
When was the Champs de Mars?
17th July 1791.
How many Parisians attended?
50,000.
What did the Paris Commune do?
They feared trouble and declared martial law.
Who was sent to disperse the crowd?
Lafayette and the National Guard.
How many people were killed?
50.
What was this the first instance of?
The revolutionary movement dividing.
What did this division cause?
Moderate revolutionaries fired on the more radical elements and this division hardened over the next month as several popular leaders were arrested.
Who was forced into hiding?
Marat and Danton.
Who ended up controlling Paris?
The moderates and Feuillants.
What was Louis left to retain?
His hereditary position and appoint minister
Because of Louis’ flight to Varennes, what was left of his power?
Very little - it has been significantly curtailed.
What could Louis no longer do?
Veto laws relating to the constitution or finance.
What did Louis retain?
His suspensive veto on other matters.
What did the Assembly now have control over?
They could determine policy and have the responsibility for declaring war.
Who instigated the self-denying ordinance?
Robespierre.
What was the self-denying ordinance?
A piece of regulation which forbade all sitting members of the National Constituent Assembly from standing as candidates for the Legislative Assembly.
When was the self-denying ordinance passed by the Constituent Assembly?
May 16th 1791.
What did Robespierre hope to reduce by the self-denying ordinance?
Robespierre’s ordinance was intended as an act of political self-sacrifice, to renew government, prevent any entrenchment of power in the new assembly and reduce moderate influence.
What five factors and issues in France meant that the 1791 constitution was doomed to fail?
1, Still based on the king- after the flight he was deemed a traitor and not an appropriate leader with supreme power
- Right to vote was too restricted- only 6% of French men and no women. People would still be unsatisfied with the unfairness and undemocratic nature of elections
- Assignats and the selling of church and émigré land was only a short term solution and would not provide a solid foundation for economic stability
- Issues over the civil constitution led to divides in the country. Those who refused to take the oath in support of it were deemed enemies of the constitution, ended national unity and led to the beginning of civil war and counter-revolution
- Time taken to implement the new constitution means the already angered people grew tired and harder to satisfy - political clubs influenced this and made the situation more tense resulting in challenges to the authority of the assembly.
