French Revolution from the abolition of feudalism to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Encyclopedia
The French Revolution
was a period in the history of France
covering the years 1789 to 1799, in which republicans
overthrew the Bourbon monarchy
and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring. This article covered the year following the storming of the Bastille
, from the abolition of feudalism
(4 August 1789) to National Constituent Assembly
's adoption of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
(12 July 1790).
The tangible consequences of the abolition of feudalism, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the movements toward a constitution are highly disputable but what was plain to see was the change in mindset of those across social and political boundaries. French people across the land began to see a future of democratic nationalism, irrevocably changing ancient traditions of society, government and religion.
, which convened on 5 May had reached a deadlock in its deliberations by 6 May. The representatives of the Third Estate therefore attempted to make the whole body more effective; they met separately from 11 May as the Communes. On 17 June the Communes, together with some members of the First Estate, declared themselves the National Assembly
by a vote of 490 to 90; they were later joined by the rest of the First Estate and some members of the Second. King Louis XVI
and the Second Estate tried to prevent the delegates from meeting, which led to the Tennis Court Oath
of 20 June, wherein the assembly swore that it would draft a new constitution for France. Failing to disperse the delegates, Louis started to recognise their validity; subsequently, the Assembly re-named itself the National Constituent Assembly
on 9 July and began to function as a governing body and a constitution-drafter. On 11 July 1789 the king dismissed his financial minister, Jacques Necker
, who had been sympathetic to the Third Estate. Many viewed this as the beginning of a coup by conservative elements. Open hostility flared in the streets, and on 14 July a Parisian mob stormed the Bastille
. However, this crowd was incited largely due to rumor that Louis was leading his army with a force of 15–20,000 soldiers to surround Paris and quell the National Assembly.
Paris was in turmoil. Amidst occasional rioting over food shortages, a hundred and eighty members, nominated by the city districts, constituted themselves as legislators and representatives of the city, but with no clear structure. The committees, the mayor, the assembly of representatives, and the individual districts each claimed authority independent of the others. The increasingly middle-class National Guard
under Lafayette also slowly emerged as a power in its own right. Other self-generated assemblies arose, soldiers debated at the Oratoire, journeymen tailors at the Colonnade, hairdressers in the Champs-Élysées
, servants at the Louvre
, and a particularly radical ad hoc assembly seated itself at the Palais Royal
. None of these limited their competence to local issues: they felt free to debate the same issues as the National Assembly, to take positions more radically revolutionary than that Assembly, and to try (individually and sometimes jointly) to influence its decisions in law making.
, sweeping away both the seigneurial
rights of the Second Estate (the nobility) and the tithe
s gathered by the First Estate (the Roman Catholic clergy).
While one can question motivations (and while many later expressed regrets and attempted retreat), historians agree that the Viscount de Noailles
and the Duke d'Aiguillon
proposed the redemption and consequent abolition of feudal rights and the suppression of personal servitude, as well as the various privileges of the nobility. Members of the First Estate were at first reluctant to enter into the patriotic fervour of the night but eventually the Bishops of Nancy and Chartres
sacrificed their tithes. In the course of a few hours, France abolished game-laws, seigneurial courts, the purchase and sale of posts in the magistracy, of pecuniary immunities, favoritism in taxation, of surplice
money, first-fruits, pluralities, and unmerited pensions. Towns, provinces, companies, and cities also sacrificed their special privileges. A medal was struck to commemorate the day, and the Assembly declared Louis XVI the "Restorer of French Liberty."
This "Saint Bartholomew
of abuses," as François Mignet
calls it, has often been the subject of hyperbole in the analyses of contemporaries and historians. The atmosphere inside the Assembly was so heady that confusion reigned in the provinces for months afterwards as to the true meaning of the laws. The real product of the night was not formalised until the Feudal Committee reported back on 5 March 1790. The Committee reintroduced the mainmorte (explicitly outlawed by the original decrees) and set a rate of redemption for real rights (those connected to the land) that was impossible for the majority of peasants to pay. As the Russia
n anarchist
Prince Peter Kropotkin
would write, "The Assembly was carried away by its enthusiasm, and in this enthusiasm nobody remarked the clause for redeeming the feudal rights and tithes, which the two nobles and the two bishops had introduced into their speeches – a clause terrible even in its vagueness, since it might mean all or nothing, and did, in fact, postpone… the abolition of feudal rights for five years – until August 1793.
for a model, on 26 August 1789 the Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
. Like the U.S. Declaration of Independece, it comprised a statement of principles rather than a constitution with legal effect. This statement of principles contained the kernel of a much more radical re-ordering of society than had yet taken place. The Declaration put forward a doctrine of popular sovereignty
and equal opportunity
:
Where the U.S. Declaration had singled out "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as inalienable rights, the French document opted for "liberty, property, safety, and resistance against oppression." It argued that the need for law derives from the fact that "... the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders that assure other members of the society the enjoyment of these same rights." Thus, the declaration saw law as an "expression of the general will
," intended to promote this equality of rights and to forbid "only actions harmful to the society."
The Declaration also put forward several provisions similar to the United States Constitution
and Bill of Rights
. Like the U.S. Constitution, it discusses the need to provide for the common defense and states some broad principles about taxation without representation. It also specifies a public right to an accounting
from public agents as to how they have discharged the public trust. Like the U.S. Bill of Rights, it provides against ex post facto application of criminal law and puts forward such principles as presumption of innocence
, freedom of speech
and of the press
, and a slightly weaker guarantee of freedom of religion
– "provided that [… the] manifestation [… of their religious opinions] does not trouble the public order established by the law". It asserts the rights of property, while reserving a public right of eminent domain
:
Over more than a decade, French legislatures contended over whether the Declaration outlawed slavery, before Napoleon
would firmly decide that it did not. The Declaration also failed to address the rights of women, which was brought to public attention by the Women's Petition to the National Assembly
and Olympe de Gouges
' 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen
.
In the event, the Assembly invested all significant powers in itself, with only a "suspensive veto" left to the king (able to delay the implementation of a law, but not to block it absolutely). The assembly would sit continuously, so as not to give a king or other ambitious individual the opportunity (in Mignet's words) "to profit by the intervals in which he would be left alone." Necker
, Mounier
, Lally-Tollendal, and others argued unsuccessfully for a senate, with members to be appointed by the king on the nomination of the people. The bulk of the nobles argued for an aristocratic upper house
, elected by the nobles. The popular party opposed any upper house and, given the division between the other two groups, carried the day: France would have a single, unicameral assembly.
The stalwarts of the ancien régime, of course, regarded all this as anathema. While the Assembly moved in the direction of a constitution, the King continued to attempt to resist the Declaration. On the pretext of protecting itself against the Parisian mob, the Court summoned troops to Versailles
, doubled the household guards, and sent for the dragoons and the Flanders regiment. Word of this spread to Paris, along with rumors that the king stood ready to dissolve the assembly, or to flee to an area where his troops held control. The behaviour of the court confirmed these suspicions. At a banquet on 1 October 1789, guests drank the health of the royal family with swords drawn, while omitting or rejecting the health of the nation. Royalist black cockade
s were distributed; some present also allegedly trampled on the tricolore cockade. Similar events took place two nights later.
Mignet writes that, "This assembling of the troops, so far from preventing aggression in Paris, provoked it... To protect itself there was no necessity for so much ardour, nor for flight was there needful so much preparation." By 5 October, the people of Paris were once again in full insurrection and stood ready to march on Versailles. Even Lafayette could not ultimately prevent his National Guards from joining them. The Parisians, with the women in front, arrived in Versailles ahead of any warning of their approach.
Over the next two days various scuffles and incidents occurred, but eventually the king and the Royal Family kept the peace by allowing themselves to be brought back from Versailles to Paris. This reduced room for royal maneuver, placing the king amid the tumultuous populace and in a position where he had less scope to rally loyal troops around him.
In the wake of these events a new round of émigré
s departed, including key royalist democrats from within the Assembly. Lally-Tollendal renounced his French citizenship and returned to England, the land of his ancestors. Mounier returned to his native Dauphiné
, where he soon became the leader of an internal revolt.
Work on a constitution resumed. The Assembly divided France into eighty-three départements, uniformly administered and nearly equal to one another in extent and population, replacing the historic provinces
. Similar arrangements were made down to the canton
level, with multi-round elections providing a broad electoral franchise in the first round, but a franchise limited by property requirements in the subsequent round or rounds. This effectively abolished the local parlement
s, and angered many of the nobility and the bishops.
The royal government had originally summoned the Estates-General to deal with a financial crisis, but to date the Assembly had focused on other matters. In fact, they had reduced taxes, had incurred financial obligations in the proposed redemption of feudal privileges, and had continued to borrow money. Mirabeau now led the move to address this matter, with the Assembly giving Necker complete financial dictatorship.
The revolution assailed not only the power of the nobility but, equally, the power of the Church.
On 4 August 1789 the tithes were declared "redeemable". One week later (11 August), tithes were suppressed without providing any equivalent. The clergy were generally not pleased, but were in no position to resist.
Further, if feudalism was to be abolished, the enormous land holdings of the Gallican Church
(the Roman Catholic Church in France) could not remain. Talleyrand, bishop of Autun, proposed that the clergy renounce their land holdings: the nation would take over the resources of the Church and, in return, take on its expenses. In approving this solution, the Assembly was no doubt also motivated by the opportunity to turn the Church into a dependent entity.
Talleyrand and other supporters of this measure argued that the church lands were of sufficient value to pay off the national debt, providing for the expenses of the church (including hospitals), and to reimburse the money paid for judicial offices. The clergy, it was said, were not proprietors, but simple depositaries of the wealth that
the piety of kings and of the faithful had devoted to religion. If the expenses of the Church were to met by the State, the pious intent would still be fulfilled.
The confiscation of Church lands occurred through the law of 2 November 1789. To rapidly monetize such an enormous amount of property, a new paper currency was introduced, assignat
s backed by the confiscated church lands. This provided an adequate (if inflationary) currency, but made it clear that the church lands were not merely to be mortgaged, but ultimately to be sold, and turned much of the clergy against the revolution. The sales were deemed sacrilegious; Catholics were discouraged from accepting assignats or otherwise purchasing former church lands.
Further legislation on 13 February 1790, abolished monastic vows.
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
, passed on 12 July 1790 (although not signed by the king until 26 December 1790), turned the remaining clergy into employees of the State and required that they take an oath of loyalty to the constitution. In another atmosphere, it might have been a plausible arrangement—in Mignet's words, "it was not the work of philosophers, but of austere Christians, who wished to support religion by the state, and to make them concur mutually in promoting its happiness" – but with much of the clergy already opposed to the revolution it became a trigger for schism
.
Among the provisions of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, bishoprics were to correspond to départements and bishops were to be elected, vicars would replace canons, and all of the orders of monk
s and nun
s that did not directly support such public functions as teaching or running hospitals were to be abolished; in theory, though, dogma
and worship were not to be affected.
In response to this legislation, the archbishop of Aix and François de Bonal
, bishop of Clermont, led a walkout of clergy from the National Constituent Assembly. The pope
never accepted the new arrangement, and it led to a schism in the Church, between those clergy who swore the required oath and accepted the new arrangement ("jurors" or "constitutional clergy") and the "non-jurors" or "refractory priests" who refused to do so...
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
was a period in the history of France
History of France
The history of France goes back to the arrival of the earliest human being in what is now France. Members of the genus Homo entered the area hundreds of thousands years ago, while the first modern Homo sapiens, the Cro-Magnons, arrived around 40,000 years ago...
covering the years 1789 to 1799, in which republicans
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
overthrew the Bourbon monarchy
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring. This article covered the year following the storming of the Bastille
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
, from the abolition of feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
(4 August 1789) to National Constituent Assembly
National Constituent Assembly
The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
's adoption of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government....
(12 July 1790).
The tangible consequences of the abolition of feudalism, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the movements toward a constitution are highly disputable but what was plain to see was the change in mindset of those across social and political boundaries. French people across the land began to see a future of democratic nationalism, irrevocably changing ancient traditions of society, government and religion.
Background
The Estates-General of 1789Estates-General of 1789
The Estates-General of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the nobility, the Church, and the common people...
, which convened on 5 May had reached a deadlock in its deliberations by 6 May. The representatives of the Third Estate therefore attempted to make the whole body more effective; they met separately from 11 May as the Communes. On 17 June the Communes, together with some members of the First Estate, declared themselves the National Assembly
National Assembly (French Revolution)
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly , which existed from June 17 to July 9, 1789, was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly.-Background:...
by a vote of 490 to 90; they were later joined by the rest of the First Estate and some members of the Second. King Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
and the Second Estate tried to prevent the delegates from meeting, which led to the Tennis Court Oath
Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath was a pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789...
of 20 June, wherein the assembly swore that it would draft a new constitution for France. Failing to disperse the delegates, Louis started to recognise their validity; subsequently, the Assembly re-named itself the National Constituent Assembly
National Constituent Assembly
The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
on 9 July and began to function as a governing body and a constitution-drafter. On 11 July 1789 the king dismissed his financial minister, Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker was a French statesman of Swiss birth and finance minister of Louis XVI, a post he held in the lead-up to the French Revolution in 1789.-Early life:...
, who had been sympathetic to the Third Estate. Many viewed this as the beginning of a coup by conservative elements. Open hostility flared in the streets, and on 14 July a Parisian mob stormed the Bastille
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
. However, this crowd was incited largely due to rumor that Louis was leading his army with a force of 15–20,000 soldiers to surround Paris and quell the National Assembly.
Paris was in turmoil. Amidst occasional rioting over food shortages, a hundred and eighty members, nominated by the city districts, constituted themselves as legislators and representatives of the city, but with no clear structure. The committees, the mayor, the assembly of representatives, and the individual districts each claimed authority independent of the others. The increasingly middle-class National Guard
National Guard (France)
The National Guard was the name given at the time of the French Revolution to the militias formed in each city, in imitation of the National Guard created in Paris. It was a military force separate from the regular army...
under Lafayette also slowly emerged as a power in its own right. Other self-generated assemblies arose, soldiers debated at the Oratoire, journeymen tailors at the Colonnade, hairdressers in the Champs-Élysées
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
, servants at the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, and a particularly radical ad hoc assembly seated itself at the Palais Royal
Palais Royal
The Palais-Royal, originally called the Palais-Cardinal, is a palace and an associated garden located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris...
. None of these limited their competence to local issues: they felt free to debate the same issues as the National Assembly, to take positions more radically revolutionary than that Assembly, and to try (individually and sometimes jointly) to influence its decisions in law making.
The abolition of feudalism
The next major event of the revolution occurred on 4 August 1789, when the National Constituent Assembly abolished feudalismFeudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
, sweeping away both the seigneurial
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
rights of the Second Estate (the nobility) and the tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
s gathered by the First Estate (the Roman Catholic clergy).
While one can question motivations (and while many later expressed regrets and attempted retreat), historians agree that the Viscount de Noailles
Louis-Marie, vicomte de Noailles
Louis-Marie, vicomte de Noailles was the second son of Philippe, duc de Mouchy, and a member of Mouchy branch of the famous Noailles family of the French aristocracy....
and the Duke d'Aiguillon
Armand, duc d'Aiguillon
Armand II de Vignerot du Plessis de Richelieu, duke of Aiguillon succeeded his father Emmanuel-Armand de Richelieu, duc d'Aiguillon....
proposed the redemption and consequent abolition of feudal rights and the suppression of personal servitude, as well as the various privileges of the nobility. Members of the First Estate were at first reluctant to enter into the patriotic fervour of the night but eventually the Bishops of Nancy and Chartres
Chartres
Chartres is a commune and capital of the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is located southwest of Paris.-Geography:Chartres is built on the left bank of the Eure River, on a hill crowned by its famous cathedral, the spires of which are a landmark in the surrounding country...
sacrificed their tithes. In the course of a few hours, France abolished game-laws, seigneurial courts, the purchase and sale of posts in the magistracy, of pecuniary immunities, favoritism in taxation, of surplice
Surplice
A surplice is a liturgical vestment of the Western Christian Church...
money, first-fruits, pluralities, and unmerited pensions. Towns, provinces, companies, and cities also sacrificed their special privileges. A medal was struck to commemorate the day, and the Assembly declared Louis XVI the "Restorer of French Liberty."
This "Saint Bartholomew
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
of abuses," as François Mignet
François Mignet
François Auguste Marie Mignet was a French journalist and historian.-Biography:He was born in Aix-en-Provence , France. His father was a locksmith from the Vendée, who enthusiastically accepted the principles of the French Revolution and encouraged liberal ideas in his son...
calls it, has often been the subject of hyperbole in the analyses of contemporaries and historians. The atmosphere inside the Assembly was so heady that confusion reigned in the provinces for months afterwards as to the true meaning of the laws. The real product of the night was not formalised until the Feudal Committee reported back on 5 March 1790. The Committee reintroduced the mainmorte (explicitly outlawed by the original decrees) and set a rate of redemption for real rights (those connected to the land) that was impossible for the majority of peasants to pay. As the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
Prince Peter Kropotkin
Peter Kropotkin
Prince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, economist, geographer, author and one of the world's foremost anarcho-communists. Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between...
would write, "The Assembly was carried away by its enthusiasm, and in this enthusiasm nobody remarked the clause for redeeming the feudal rights and tithes, which the two nobles and the two bishops had introduced into their speeches – a clause terrible even in its vagueness, since it might mean all or nothing, and did, in fact, postpone… the abolition of feudal rights for five years – until August 1793.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
Looking to the United States Declaration of IndependenceUnited States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
for a model, on 26 August 1789 the Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is a fundamental document of the French Revolution, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of "natural right", the rights of man are held to be universal: valid...
. Like the U.S. Declaration of Independece, it comprised a statement of principles rather than a constitution with legal effect. This statement of principles contained the kernel of a much more radical re-ordering of society than had yet taken place. The Declaration put forward a doctrine of popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty or the sovereignty of the people is the political principle that the legitimacy of the state is created and sustained by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. It is closely associated with Republicanism and the social contract...
and equal opportunity
Equal opportunity
Equal opportunity, or equality of opportunity, is a controversial political concept; and an important informal decision-making standard without a precise definition involving fair choices within the public sphere...
:
- "Article III – The principle of any sovereigntySovereigntySovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
resides essentially in the Nation. No body, no individual can exert authority that does not emanate expressly from it."
- (From Article VI) – "All the citizens, being equal in [the eyes of the law], are equally admissible to all public dignities, places, and employments, according to their capacity and without distinction other than that of their virtues and of their talents."
Where the U.S. Declaration had singled out "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as inalienable rights, the French document opted for "liberty, property, safety, and resistance against oppression." It argued that the need for law derives from the fact that "... the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders that assure other members of the society the enjoyment of these same rights." Thus, the declaration saw law as an "expression of the general will
General will
The general will , made famous by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is a concept in political philosophy referring to the desire or interest of a people as a whole. As used by Rousseau, the "general will" is identical to the rule of law, and to Spinoza's mens una.The notion of the general will is wholly...
," intended to promote this equality of rights and to forbid "only actions harmful to the society."
The Declaration also put forward several provisions similar to the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
and Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
. Like the U.S. Constitution, it discusses the need to provide for the common defense and states some broad principles about taxation without representation. It also specifies a public right to an accounting
Accountability
Accountability is a concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving...
from public agents as to how they have discharged the public trust. Like the U.S. Bill of Rights, it provides against ex post facto application of criminal law and puts forward such principles as presumption of innocence
Presumption of innocence
The presumption of innocence, sometimes referred to by the Latin expression Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat, is the principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty. Application of this principle is a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial, recognised in many...
, freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
and of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
, and a slightly weaker guarantee of freedom of religion
Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
– "provided that [… the] manifestation [… of their religious opinions] does not trouble the public order established by the law". It asserts the rights of property, while reserving a public right of eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
:
- "Article XVII – Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one can be deprived of private usage, if it is not when the public necessity, legally noted, evidently requires it, and under the condition of a just and prior indemnity [that is, compensation]."
Over more than a decade, French legislatures contended over whether the Declaration outlawed slavery, before Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
would firmly decide that it did not. The Declaration also failed to address the rights of women, which was brought to public attention by the Women's Petition to the National Assembly
Women's Petition to the National Assembly
This petition was produced during the French Revolution and presented to the French National Assembly in November 1789 after The March on Versailles on 5 October 1789, proposing a decree by the National Assembly to give women equality. There were thousands of petitions presented to the National...
and Olympe de Gouges
Olympe de Gouges
Olympe de Gouges , born Marie Gouze, was a French playwright and political activist whose feminist and abolitionist writings reached a large audience....
' 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen , also known as the Declaration of the Rights of Woman, was written in 1791 by French activist and playwright Olympe de Gouges...
.
Toward a constitution
The Declaration stated broad principles, but did little or nothing to establish a form of government. For the time, the National Constituent Assembly, its membership drawn from the Estates-General, functioned as a legislature, but that provided no model as to how to select a future government. Would it have a unicameral or a bicameral legislature? What powers should remain to the king? How often should elections take place (and precisely which offices should be elective)?In the event, the Assembly invested all significant powers in itself, with only a "suspensive veto" left to the king (able to delay the implementation of a law, but not to block it absolutely). The assembly would sit continuously, so as not to give a king or other ambitious individual the opportunity (in Mignet's words) "to profit by the intervals in which he would be left alone." Necker
Necker
-People:*Jacques Necker , French statesman*Louis Albert Necker , Swiss crystallographer*Albertine Necker de Saussure , Swiss writer and educationalist*Evelyn Necker, a fictional character from the Marvel UK imprint of Marvel Comics...
, Mounier
Mounier
Mounier is the surname name of a prominent French-Egyptian family. The family house is located in the Alpes-Maritimes, France, a few miles away from Mont Mounier, near Nice. The family also owns Le Vigne du Mounier, or كرم منير, in Lake Mariout, Alexandria and Nile land in Egypt...
, Lally-Tollendal, and others argued unsuccessfully for a senate, with members to be appointed by the king on the nomination of the people. The bulk of the nobles argued for an aristocratic upper house
Upper house
An upper house, often called a senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house; a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.- Possible specific characteristics :...
, elected by the nobles. The popular party opposed any upper house and, given the division between the other two groups, carried the day: France would have a single, unicameral assembly.
The stalwarts of the ancien régime, of course, regarded all this as anathema. While the Assembly moved in the direction of a constitution, the King continued to attempt to resist the Declaration. On the pretext of protecting itself against the Parisian mob, the Court summoned troops to Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, doubled the household guards, and sent for the dragoons and the Flanders regiment. Word of this spread to Paris, along with rumors that the king stood ready to dissolve the assembly, or to flee to an area where his troops held control. The behaviour of the court confirmed these suspicions. At a banquet on 1 October 1789, guests drank the health of the royal family with swords drawn, while omitting or rejecting the health of the nation. Royalist black cockade
Cockade
A cockade is a knot of ribbons, or other circular- or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive colors which is usually worn on a hat.-Eighteenth century:...
s were distributed; some present also allegedly trampled on the tricolore cockade. Similar events took place two nights later.
Mignet writes that, "This assembling of the troops, so far from preventing aggression in Paris, provoked it... To protect itself there was no necessity for so much ardour, nor for flight was there needful so much preparation." By 5 October, the people of Paris were once again in full insurrection and stood ready to march on Versailles. Even Lafayette could not ultimately prevent his National Guards from joining them. The Parisians, with the women in front, arrived in Versailles ahead of any warning of their approach.
Over the next two days various scuffles and incidents occurred, but eventually the king and the Royal Family kept the peace by allowing themselves to be brought back from Versailles to Paris. This reduced room for royal maneuver, placing the king amid the tumultuous populace and in a position where he had less scope to rally loyal troops around him.
In the wake of these events a new round of émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
s departed, including key royalist democrats from within the Assembly. Lally-Tollendal renounced his French citizenship and returned to England, the land of his ancestors. Mounier returned to his native Dauphiné
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....
, where he soon became the leader of an internal revolt.
Work on a constitution resumed. The Assembly divided France into eighty-three départements, uniformly administered and nearly equal to one another in extent and population, replacing the historic provinces
Provinces of France
The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the département system superseded provinces. The provinces of France were roughly equivalent to the historic counties of England...
. Similar arrangements were made down to the canton
Cantons of France
The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as...
level, with multi-round elections providing a broad electoral franchise in the first round, but a franchise limited by property requirements in the subsequent round or rounds. This effectively abolished the local parlement
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
s, and angered many of the nobility and the bishops.
The royal government had originally summoned the Estates-General to deal with a financial crisis, but to date the Assembly had focused on other matters. In fact, they had reduced taxes, had incurred financial obligations in the proposed redemption of feudal privileges, and had continued to borrow money. Mirabeau now led the move to address this matter, with the Assembly giving Necker complete financial dictatorship.
Toward the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
- For a more detailed discussion, please see Civil Constitution of the ClergyCivil Constitution of the ClergyThe Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government....
.
The revolution assailed not only the power of the nobility but, equally, the power of the Church.
On 4 August 1789 the tithes were declared "redeemable". One week later (11 August), tithes were suppressed without providing any equivalent. The clergy were generally not pleased, but were in no position to resist.
Further, if feudalism was to be abolished, the enormous land holdings of the Gallican Church
Gallican Church
The Gallican Church was the Catholic Church in France from the time of the Declaration of the Clergy of France to that of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution....
(the Roman Catholic Church in France) could not remain. Talleyrand, bishop of Autun, proposed that the clergy renounce their land holdings: the nation would take over the resources of the Church and, in return, take on its expenses. In approving this solution, the Assembly was no doubt also motivated by the opportunity to turn the Church into a dependent entity.
Talleyrand and other supporters of this measure argued that the church lands were of sufficient value to pay off the national debt, providing for the expenses of the church (including hospitals), and to reimburse the money paid for judicial offices. The clergy, it was said, were not proprietors, but simple depositaries of the wealth that
the piety of kings and of the faithful had devoted to religion. If the expenses of the Church were to met by the State, the pious intent would still be fulfilled.
The confiscation of Church lands occurred through the law of 2 November 1789. To rapidly monetize such an enormous amount of property, a new paper currency was introduced, assignat
Assignat
Assignat was the type of a monetary instrument used during the time of the French Revolution, and the French Revolutionary Wars.- France :...
s backed by the confiscated church lands. This provided an adequate (if inflationary) currency, but made it clear that the church lands were not merely to be mortgaged, but ultimately to be sold, and turned much of the clergy against the revolution. The sales were deemed sacrilegious; Catholics were discouraged from accepting assignats or otherwise purchasing former church lands.
Further legislation on 13 February 1790, abolished monastic vows.
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government....
, passed on 12 July 1790 (although not signed by the king until 26 December 1790), turned the remaining clergy into employees of the State and required that they take an oath of loyalty to the constitution. In another atmosphere, it might have been a plausible arrangement—in Mignet's words, "it was not the work of philosophers, but of austere Christians, who wished to support religion by the state, and to make them concur mutually in promoting its happiness" – but with much of the clergy already opposed to the revolution it became a trigger for schism
Schism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
.
Among the provisions of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, bishoprics were to correspond to départements and bishops were to be elected, vicars would replace canons, and all of the orders of monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s and nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
s that did not directly support such public functions as teaching or running hospitals were to be abolished; in theory, though, dogma
Dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...
and worship were not to be affected.
In response to this legislation, the archbishop of Aix and François de Bonal
François de Bonal
François de Bonal was Bishop of Clermont.He had been Vicar-General of the diocese of Agen and Director of the Carmelite Nuns in France when he was made Bishop of Clermont, in 1776...
, bishop of Clermont, led a walkout of clergy from the National Constituent Assembly. The pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
never accepted the new arrangement, and it led to a schism in the Church, between those clergy who swore the required oath and accepted the new arrangement ("jurors" or "constitutional clergy") and the "non-jurors" or "refractory priests" who refused to do so...