National Constituent Assembly Essay

The fire was burning too brightly and in order to contain the flames out of this came the creation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen on the 26 August 1789 by the National Assembly, composed of those from the Third Estate. This declaration was heavily influenced by the American Revolution and Thomas Jefferson, who one of the founding fathers and a principal author of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was all about man’s ‘natural right’ at any time and pertaining to any individual, no matter where they were in the world. This is one of the most important and significant declarations created in all of history. It created an outcry and demand for similar rights and liberty across all of Europe, where most countries were still dominated by the establishment of the monarchy. It also spread universally, to places such as the Caribbean and the Middle East who wanted a democratic republic just like France had been aiming for. What many countries started to see was that such freedom was born out of the ever growing reality of nationalism, which had already caused terror among and against the people.

Grain stores were looted, chateaux were attacked and documents listing peasant obligations were seized and destroyed. The National Assembly realised that it had to act – the mainly bourgeoisie deputies feared for their property following the Great Fear which had spread the peasant rising throughout most of France. Consequently, the National Assembly issues the August Decrees, considered an important start in the process of dismantling the ancien regime. They marked the end of noble power and the privilege of birth, establishing a society instead based upon civil equality. The peasants were satisfied with this new regime as it removed their feudal obligations and thus they gave their support to the revolution in fear that if they did not support the changes, aristocratic privileges and the tithe would return. The support of the peasants had proved to be vital and necessary primarily due to the fact that they had such a huge influence because they made up such a huge amount of the population. The events in Paris had served as a catalyst which sparked the revolt in the countryside and brought about the August Decrees.

The revolution also impacted France because it lead to the creation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The members of the National Assembly created the Declaration of the Rights of Man to state the rights that they believed were deserved by all people and would create equality throughout France. The rights that were listed throughout the declaration were modeled after the Declaration of Independence that had just recently been created in the United States of America. The first right written in this declaration is that all men are created equal and are naturally good (document 5). This shows that no matter what social class one is in, they should be treated with the same respect.

French Revolution: Final Essay The French Revolution accomplished many things. The clergy and nobility began to struggle to keep their power in the resolutions losing some authority over the people. The peasants and san culottes got more rights in the first revolution but they did not get any political power.

One might ask if the 1789 document, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen addressed the needs of all the people of the third estate like its writers claimed was its purpose. The National Assembly of France, which consisted of mostly wealthy bourgeoisies men, wrote the declaration. The remaining members of the third estate, which included the urban poor sans-culottes, therefore did not have much say in what was being addressed to the public. Enlightenment ideas such as popular sovereignty and civic equality, advocated by both the bourgeoisies and sans-culottes, is apparent in the statement. Furthermore, the National Assembly of France addressed the sans-culottes’ need of equality, employment based on talent, and desire for a political reorganization.

What would start as an act to protect people from the abuses of the government, would turn into one of the most oppressive periods of French History, giving it the name: Reign of Terror. King Louis XIV’s expensive and unnecessary war debts and lavish expenditures left his citizens starving and without a platform. In order to solve this, Louis XIV raised taxes, making the very mistake of King George III that led to the American Revolution. The social classes were called to reach a solution, but as always reached a stalemate. Delegates of the Estates General then took for themselves their natural right to dissention, and created the National Assembly. Regarding the right to dissent, the right to one’s own religious views,

In 1789, the French Revolution struck the citizens of France. The economy started to struggle after King Louis XVI was drowning in debt from the expensive wars and the prices of bread started to grow. This caused chaos among the people of France, as fear for survival increased. King Louis then called the estates general to help fix the financial crisis. They came up with the Declaration of Man and Citizen which promised “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.”

The French Revolution had many contributions to its cause. One of these many causes was financial crisis and economic conflicts. There was an injustice in the amount each person must pay (document 1). The people of nobility were taxed very little and the commoners were taxed heavily. Also, the poor people were extremely poor.

Citizens were not permitted to vote as individuals. Instead one vote was given to each of the three estates, the clergy (first), aristocrats (second), and everyone else excluded from the first two, who were most commonly peasants and the working class (third) (Roberts et al. 646). Unsurprisingly, the Third Estate was outvoted and citizens within became furious. They, “…insisted that those who worked [for low wages] and pay taxes were the nation…” (Roberts et al. 646) Shortly afterward, the National Assembly was born and was determined to take France’s future into its own (Belloc, 93).

The French Revolution was a period of time from 1789 to 1799 in France where there was political instability. It officially began on the 14th of July, 1789, when the Bastille, which was a symbol of the King’s harsh policies, was stormed. The King, Louis XVI, the Queen, Marie-Antoinette and about 40,000 people were all brutally murdered. But there was also a positive side, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was formally adopted on August 1789 and feudalism was abolished. This essay will address the issues of the three estates system, food shortages and the fiscal crisis. It will also be argued that the most significant cause of the French Revolution was the social inequality that stemmed from the three estates system.

The French Revolution of 1789 changed the meaning of the word “revolution.” Prior to this year, revolution meant restoring a previous form of government that had been taken away. Since then, revolution has meant creating a new institution of government that did not previously exist. This required that a constitution be drafted. After a series of four mini-revolutions from May to July, the “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” was released on the twenty-sixth of August, 1789. When the French revolutionaries drew up the Declaration, they wanted to end the traditions surrounding hereditary monarchy and establish new institutions based on the principles of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment

During the French Revolution, King Louis XVI was in charge of the monarchy and was deposed in 1792 and later executed in 1793 (The French Revolution (1789-1799)). King Louis XVI fell into massive debt which forced him to give into the Parlement of Paris and the Estates-General, this then leading to the Revolution. After the absolute monarchy was disbanded, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was adopted. As reported by The French Revolution by history,com, the declaration proclaimed the Assembly’s commitment to replace the old system with one that was based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular sovereignty, and representative government. The National Assembly soon learned that it wasn’t easy to govern or be in charge of a country, this shown by the months it took to draft a constitution for France (The French Revolution). According to this article, many questions were asked when it came to creating the constitution such as “Would the clergy owe allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church or the French government?” or “Who would be responsible for electing delegates?”

Prior to the French Revolution enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire had been writing about equality and individual freedoms. These ideas began to catch hold with the populous of France, who were almost all living in very poor conditions. Perhaps the most important of these authors, in regards to the French Revolution, was John Locke who talked about the idea of a decentralized government, a system where the people represented the people; a democracy.1 The people of France began to make a push for such equality, and in August of

Is the orthodox view of parliamentary sovereignty still relevant in the modern British constitution? Why (not)?

The period 1815-1914 in Europe was important, as it was the time of the growth of constitutional government, however events from the French Revolution had a significant impact on the 19th century Europe. French revolutions has began when in 1774 Louise XVI had to deal with a financial crisis cause by 'seven year 's war '. Louise XVI had agreed to summon 'Estate-General ', which represented the clergy, nobles and the Third Estate(the commoners). Inspired by the issues with the voting system of the estate-general, the third assembly has called themselves National Assembly, and threatened to proceed without the clergy and nobles if necessary. On 9 of July 1789 under king 's agreement clergy and nobles has joined the assembly, which was officially called National Constituent Assembly. On the 4 of august 1789 the assembly issued a 'Declaration of the Rights of Man ', which stated that the nation, not the monarchy, was the superior authority, and that the elected representatives of the state would proclaim liberty and equality for the citizens, the right to property and to resit oppression. In respond to peasant riots and attacks on chateaux, the assembly abolished feudalism. By the 1792 both radicals, full of hope to spread the ideas of the Revolution, and the king, optimistic that war would either improve his authority or support from foreign armies. As both agreed in April 20, 1792 France proclaimed a war against Austria. Louise XVI hoped that the war would strengthen his