1. The Creation of the National Assembly
When the Estates General met in May 1789 at Versailles, the 3rd estate demanded that all 3 estates meet as one and vote by head (as individuals) and not by order (as estates).
By June 1789 some members of the clergy had come to sit with the 3rd Estate and it declared itself to be the “National Assembly”. The king locked it out of its meeting room, but in the famous “Tennis Court Oath” they agreed not to disband until they had written a constitution for France. This was a revolutionary act for this body was claiming sovereignty for an extralegal entity.

2. The Revolution Commences
The king originally sided with the nobility, breaking a long standing tradition of repressing or containing noble power. By doing so, he lost much of his credibility with the 3rd estate, lost control of it and its doings, and squandered the loyalty of the people as well as the symbolism of his office.
When he gave orders to the 3rd Estate they were ignored or refuted, and his attempt in June to break up the “National Assembly” by force failed and aggravated the tension in the country

3. Revolution
Royal troops began to surround the meeting place of the National Assembly during June and July. People in the area and especially in Paris who were suffering as the result of a poor harvest and recession in the economy were becoming restive. Disorder was widespread in both the country side and in the cities.
Parisians began to arm themselves with pikes and what ever they could find. On July 14th, a crowd stormed the Bastille searching for weapons and the ensuing violence led to the deaths of 98 citizens. The crowd responded by decapitating 6 guards and parading the heads around town. The storming of the Bastille unintentionally saved the Assembly at Versailles.

4. The Constitutional Revolution
The King gave in, ordering his troops away from Versailles and Paris, recognized a citizen’s committee as the government of Paris, ordered the 1st and 2nd Estates to sit with the 3rd as a National Assembly. The National Assembly created a National Guard for its protection and created a new national flag: the tricolor. Lafayette, who had been Washington’s protégé in the American Revolution was instrumental in both the creation of the National Guard and the flag.
France essentially fell apart while constitution making went on at Versailles. This is the period of the “Great Fear” in the countryside when rumor and speculation culminated in the overthrow of the remnants of the feudal system and the creation of the French peasant of the last 250 years. For many in France, by the end of August 1789 the revolution had achieved what it needed to do.

5. How did the National Assembly Revolutionize France? Or did it?
On August 4th 1789 the nobles in the National Assembly renounced their ancient rights including their tax privileges and right of eminent property
Peasants rid themselves of these feudal obligations without any loss or financial cost. This WAS the revolution for most of them.
That night, feudalism was abolished by decree of the Assembly

6. The National Assembly and Revolution
THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND CITIZEN was passed on August 26th, It asserted the natural rights of man (humanity), the collective sovereignty of the citizens, equality before the law, and civic liberties
Law was defined as the expression of the GENERAL WILL. (ah, Rousseau)
Thousands of copies were distributed and Tom Paine translated it into English
Oddly, although the rights referred to humanity the Assembly only granted men these rights.

7. The National Assembly and Revolution
This failure led to the creation of a document published in England by Mary Wollstonecraft: “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” calling for education, employment, property rights, and marriage rights as had De Gouges a year earlier. Only one man in the National Assembly openly supported equal rights-Condorcet. Eventually the Assembly defined marriage as a civil contract and permitted divorce in Most revolutionaries saw things in terms of “manly” values not equal gender rights.
Women’s clubs supporting the efforts of the Revolution were formed in this early stage (1789) but made illegal under the Convention and terror in 1793

8. The National Assembly and Revolution
The National Assembly was divided on what type of government to create: an English model could be used, or a much weaker monarchy could be instituted. Many radicals feared giving the monarchy much power at all. Finally, a constitutional monarchy with a unicameral legislature was created. The king had only limited veto powers over legislation.

9. The National Assembly Tilts to the Left
Unbalancing the new government. The constitutional monarchy faced many problems across a full spectrum. Economic, social, political, and religious issues arose and began to fracture what structure remained.
Political Issues:
The rise of the people: in October 1789 women from Paris marched on Versailles besieging the Palace until the King agreed to live in and govern from Paris. Many aristocrats had emigrated by now and so had some of the original revolutionaries

10. Politics, economics, and social issues
Revolutionaries, mostly bourgeois, began to organize political clubs in Paris particularly, the most important of which were the Girondins and Jacobin Club. Both of these remained almost exclusively middle class. The primary reason for formation was to direct the Paris mob for political reasons. Whoever owned the mob owned Paris.
The National Assembly also was known as the Constituent Assembly as it was writing the constitution. It transformed and reshaped the entire French government, doing away with many traditional elements such as the parlements, noble titles, internal tariffs, and reorganizing provincial and municipal governments

11. Politics, economics, and social issues
France was decentralized as much as could be expected into 83 departments of essentially equal size and of novel character.
The Constitution of 1791 created the constitutional monarchy with the king having a weak veto. In June of that year the King fled Paris and repudiated the revolution but was captured, arrested, and brought back to Paris to accept his status as a limited monarch. Louis XVI days were numbered.

12. Political, Economic and Social Issues
The Constituent Assembly dissolved itself with the promulgation of the new constitution in 1791, also deciding that none of its members could sit in the new legislature-the Legislative Assembly. The constitution and the constitutional government it created would last less than one year. Question: why did the National Assembly not allow its members to sit in the new Legislative Assembly? What reasons can you discern for this and against this?

13. Economic Issues
The National Assembly favored the middle class in its economic policies. This may be because the majority of them were bourgeois.
It did not repudiate the national debt and it created a type of paper currency called assignats which were backed up by the confiscated property of the church (more on this later).
Peasants often had to go through middlemen in order to buy this land and in many cases had to compensate their old lords for the loss of manorial dues.
The National Assembly abolished guilds and forbade the establishment of trade unions- very middle class things to do

14. Economic Issues
The Le Chapelier law allowed unrestricted occupations for all persons without having to belong to any organization of any kind. All negotiations for wages and work were to be private between employer and employee. However, workers soon began to organize illegal trade unions and strikes and collective wage bargaining continued despite the laws.
French economic activity probably fell from , but no measures of it are extant. If it did fall this was the result of dislocations, riots, uncertainty, and all the other usual suspects.

15. Social Issues
Women: ended up on the short end of the stick under the National Assembly (in fact under all revolutionary governments of France). The vote was limited to males who owned property (this would fluctuate like mad over the next few years). Persons who could not vote were classed as “passive” citizens; those who could were “active” citizens.
The voting age was set at 25 and one must pay a small direct tax of a certain amount to qualify.

16. The State and the Church
The most clear example of philosophe impact on the early revolution is in the treatment of the church
The National Assembly did not press for or endorse separation of church and state
Instead, under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the church was nationalized.
The National Assembly by issuing this document placed the church under the civil government

17. The State and Church
All church property was confiscated and all church officials from parish priest to archbishop became, in effect, employees of the state
Bishops and priests were elected by the “active citizens” who did not have to be Catholic.
No papal interference was to be allowed in this process. The number of dioceses was reduced to 83 to correspond with the new departments of civil government
All monastic orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, etc.) were dissolved

18. The State and Church
The Pope condemned both the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the revolution.
In response, the National Assembly required all clergymen to take an oath of loyalty to the government. Only about ½ did so and only 7 of the bishops swore loyalty.
As a result, those who would not swear set up clandestine churches, became counterrevolutionaries, as did many of the people.
These “refractory” clergy denounced those who had sworn.

19. The State and the Church
The King, many nobles, and the majority of the peasants (who had got what they wanted from the revolution) supported these “illegal” priests. This led to counterrevolution in the countryside which in time would yield tragedy especially for the peasants
The church became identified as anti-liberal, anti-reform, and anti-democratic which it certainly was, and the revolution and its supporters were more alienated from the church than before. The Papacy became more powerful in church matters, as the “refractory” church had no one else to go to.

20. The State and the Church
Many historians believe this (Civil Constitution of the Clergy) was a tactical error by those who pushed it through, as large groups of people who initially supported the revolution, recoiled at this.
Much of the consequence of this action would be seen in the Terror which would soon replace the constitutional monarchy