57 Constitutional Monarchy
22.4: Constitutional Monarchy
22.4.1: The Constitution of 1791
The Constitution of 1791, the first written constitution of France, turned the country into a constitutional monarchy following the collapse of the absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.
Learning Objective
Deconstruct the government established by the Constitution of 1791
Key Points
- One of the stated goals of the National Assembly formed by the Third Estate on June 13, 1789, was to write a constitution. A twelve-member Constitutional Committee was convened on July 14, 1789, to draft most of the articles of the constitution. Many proposals for redefining the French state were floated.
- The main early controversies surrounded the level of power to be granted to the king of France and the form the legislature would take. Another critical question was whether every subject of the French Crown would be given equal rights as the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen theoretically promised.
- A second body, the Committee of Revisions, was created in September 1790. Because the National Assembly was both a legislature and a constitutional convention, this committee was formed to sort out whether its decrees were constitutional articles or mere statutes. The committee became very important in the days after the Champs de Mars Massacre, when one of its members used his position to preserve a number of powers of the Crown.
- A new constitution was reluctantly accepted by Louis XVI in September 1791. It abolished many institutions defined as “injurious to liberty and equality of rights.” The National Assembly was the legislative body, the king and royal ministers made up the executive branch, and the judiciary was independent of the other two branches. On a local level, previous feudal geographic divisions were formally abolished and the territory of the French state was divided into several administrative units with the principle of centralism. The king was allowed a suspensive veto to balance out the interests of the people.
- The constitution was not egalitarian by today’s standards. It distinguished between the active citizens (male property owners of certain age) and the passive citizens. All women were deprived of rights and liberties, including the right to education and freedom to speak, write, print, and worship.
- Following the onset of French Revolutionary Wars and the August 10 Insurrection, a National Convention declared France a republic on September 22, 1792, which meant that France needed a new constitution a year after agreeing on the 1791 Constitution.
Key Terms
- National Assembly
- A revolutionary assembly formed by the representatives of the Third Estate (the common people) of the Estates-General that existed from June 13 to July 9, 1789. After July 9, it was known as the National Constituent Assembly although popularly the shorter form persisted.
- French Revolutionary Wars
- A series of sweeping military conflicts from 1792 until 1802, resu