National Constituent Assembly

As a Constituent Assembly (French Assemblée nationale constituante, National Constituent Assembly ') those French National Assembly is called, which was held from July 9, 1789 with the aim to September 2, 1791 to give France a constitution first. In the course of a preliminary consolidation phase of the French Revolution, the Constituent Assembly led by profound reforms and finally put forward the so-called Constitution of 1791, was transformed into a constitutional monarchy with France. The Constituent Assembly was followed by the Legislative Assembly (French Assemblée nationale legislative ), which could include no members of Konstituanten.

The Constituent Assembly, 1789-1791

The road to the Constituent Assembly

In the decades before the outbreak of the revolution, the financial crisis of the absolutist France had always further. To ward of state bankruptcy was the French King Louis XVI. on May 5, 1789 convened the Estates General. In the debate over whether it should be matched by objects or by headcount, there was a split between the representatives of the Third Estate and those of the nobility and clergy. One and a half months after the convening of the Estates General began a political revolution, as the deputies of the Third Estate declared on the proposal of the Abbé Sieyès on June 17, 1789 National Assembly (French National Assembly ). Three days later, the famous Tennis Court Oath, the deputies pledged with which tend not to disperse, until they had given France a constitution. On June 23, finally, the Third Estate resisted, led by the Comte de Mirabeau the command of Louis XVI. , Not to sit together again and stalls. Thus, the absolute monarchy in France had ceased to exist. On July 7, a committee was formed with the task of drafting a constitution. On July 9, 1789 at last the National Assembly referred to as the " Constituent Assembly ".

Composition, meetings, groups

A total of 1,315 deputies sat down as follows: 25% of them were members of the clergy, 18 % belonged to the military ( primarily the nobility ), 40 % were lawyers or support from public office, 7% of the deputies were entrepreneurs; under-represented were the deputies from the country; the simple people of the towns was entirely wanting.

The conference took place first in Versailles, where the Estates-General had met in May 1789. When Louis XVI. ready explained in the course of the second uprising in Paris on October 6, 1789 under the pressure of the masses to move to Paris, the deputies followed him there. They settled first in the palace of the Archbishop of Paris and met from November 1789 in the narrow and poorly lit and ventilated " Salle du Manège " in close proximity to the residence of the king, the Palais des Tuileries.

Parties in the modern sense did not exist, in September 1789, the deputies but had split into two separate sedentary groups. This seating arrangement was based on the British House of Commons, where the ruling party was sitting at the right hand of the speaker and the opposition to his left. Accordingly, the proponents of an absolute veto for the French king, called " aristocrats " (French Aristocrates ) were the President's right down, while the most ardent supporters of the Revolution and advocates of limited by the will of the people monarchy, the so-called "patriots" ( French patriotes ), his left -clustered. The "patriots" divorced soon in the "moderates " (French moderes ), which favored a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament in the English style and the " progressives " (French Avances ) or " constitutionalists " (French constitutionnels ) which called for only one chamber.

The main speakers were Jacques Antoine Marie de Cazales and the Abbé Jean- Siffrein Maury for the right side, Stanislas de Clermont- Tonnerre, and Pierre -Victor Malouet Jean -Joseph Mounier right of center, Jean -Sylvain Bailly, Marie -Joseph Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, Gabriel de Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau and Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès for the center, called the " triumvirate " Antoine Barnave, Adrien Duport and Charles de Lameth left of center, and François- Nicolas- Léonard Buzot, Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve Maximilien Robespierre and de at the far left, at that time, but still relatively unknown and without much influence.

Reform work of the Constituent Assembly

From autumn 1789 to autumn 1791, the Constituent Assembly led by a long series of reform projects, which led to profound social, economic and structural changes.

In the night between 4 and 5 August 1789, the abolition of the manorial rights ( manorial jurisdiction, hunting rights, spell right ) was decided during a discussion on ways to crackdown on peasant uprisings (French Grande Peur ) on the proposal of the Vicomte de Noailles. Add borne by revolutionary enthusiasm session beyond the offices venality of the church tithe, the guilds and corporations, as well as the privileges of provinces and individuals were abolished. Even if the subsequent decree of 11 August relativized the resolutions of August 4, so this was the final break with the Ancien Régime.

As a first result of discussions on the future constitution adopted the deputies as its preamble, the Declaration of Human and Civil Rights, which was published on 26 August 1789. The introduced along the lines of the American Declaration of Independence of La Fayette text guaranteeing the right of all men to liberty, protection of property and equality before the law. Some questions remained here, however, not taken into account. Example, it was necessary for the Caribbean island of Saint- Domingue not discussed (today Haiti ) due to the unrest occurring there since the beginning of the revolution burning question of the abolition of slavery in the context of the debate on the Declaration of Human and Civil Rights. On this point, first translated by economic interests; Slavery was not abolished until 28 September 1791.

Since the bankruptcy was certain and also two new, initiated by Necker government bonds did not bring the desired success, insisted on the field of finance for urgent action. One idea Talleyrand following, the deputies of the National Assembly decided on 2 November 1789, a complete expropriation of Church property. Since the sale of these vast lands could be settled only in the course of several years and much needed government money were by the decree of 19./21. December 1789 called assignats issued as state bonds. Their value was recovered by the expected sales proceeds from now on as the " national property " (French biens nationaux ) titled Land of the church. The issue of assignats led France but not permanently from the financial crisis. The further swelled the deficit, the more assignats were issued. At least since the beginning of 1791 waned confidence in the new cash to the extent that, as always, new issues fueling the decline in the value of paper money. By the deletion of a large part of the previously collected indirect taxes and the imposition of new taxes (property tax on the ground and buildings, taxes on people and movable property, and taxes on industrial and commercial income) -induced reorganization of the tax system presented no short-term solution since a bureaucracy lacked to collect these taxes and government spending so faced no sufficient income.

Since the differently sized and equipped with different privileges provinces of France of the Ancien Régime were considered incompatible with the equality of all citizens, the deputies decided on 11 November 1789 re-division of the French territory. After a three- month planning phase, the Constituent Assembly adopted on 26 February 1790, the creation of 83 approximately equal-sized administrative units, the so-called " départements ". These were broken down by districts, cantons and municipalities, and were led by elected permanently, which meets directorates.

On February 13, 1790, the Constituent Assembly dissolved the religious orders with the exception of working in nursing and education communities. Subsequently occupied Church Committee considered in the majority of laymen with the reorganization of the secular clergy. As a result of these deliberations, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy ( Fr. Constitution civile du clergé ) was decided on July 12, 1790, which made the clergy to the popularly elected and salaried by the state officials. The number of dioceses was - reduced from 135 to 83 and re-divided the parishes - according to the number of departments. Since the state took over the cost of the upkeep of the clergy after the expropriation of the Church determined the deputies, that all priests had to take the oath to the new Constitution. This led to a deep split in the church, as many clergy - a saying Pope Pius VI. Following - refused the oath to the Constitution and opposed the eviction of their pastorate or chose to go into exile.

The Constitution of 1791

The Constitution was adopted on September 3, 1791 included the principles of separation of powers: The King created together with the Ministers and the administration, the executive, legislature acted as the National Assembly. The judiciary has been divided into the high court for charges against state officials, the Court of Appeal as the highest court and various courts on lower level, the judges were just as officials and deputies of the National Assembly elected by the active citizens. Active citizens all men were excluded over 25 years with a certain tax revenues, all the others were from voting ( census suffrage ).

Chronology

1789

• July 9: The National Assembly declares itself to be " Constituent Assembly "
• 4/5 August: abolition of the feudal system and the privileges
• August 26: Publication of the Declaration of Human and Civil Rights
• November 2nd nationalization of church property ( as so-called " national property " )
• 19./21. December: the issue of assignats for 400 million livres

1790

1791