French constitution of 1791 - wikipedia French constitution of 1791 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( May 2008 ) French Constitution of 1791 French Constitution of 1791. Original title ( in French ) Constitution française du 3 septembre 1791 The short - lived French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution in France, created after the collapse of the absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. One of the basic precepts of the revolution was adopting constitutionality and establishing popular sovereignty. Contents 1 Drafting process 1.1 Early efforts 1.2 New Constitutional Committee 1.3 Committee of Revisions 1.4 Results 1.5 Evaluation 2 See also 3 References 4 External links Drafting process Early efforts The National Assembly began the process of drafting a constitution. The Declaration of the Rights of Man, adopted on 27 August 1789 eventually became the preamble of the constitution adopted on 3 September 1791. The Declaration offered sweeping generalizations about rights, liberty, and sovereignty. A twelve - member Constitutional Committee was convened on 14 July 1789 ( coincidentally the day of the Storming of the Bastille ). Its task was to do much of the drafting of the articles of the constitution. It included originally two members from the First Estate ( Champion de Cicé, Archbishop of Bordeaux and Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun ) ; two from the Second ( the comte de Clermont - Tonnerre and the marquis de Lally - Tollendal ) ; and four from the Third ( Jean Joseph Mounier, Abbé Sieyès, Nicholas Bergasse, and Isaac René Guy le Chapelier ). Many proposals for redefining the French state were floated, particularly in the days after the remarkable sessions of 4 -- 5 August 1789 and the abolition of feudalism. For instance, the Marquis de Lafayette proposed a combination of the American and British systems, introducing a bicameral parliament, with the king having the suspensive veto power over the legislature, modeled to the authority then recently vested in the President of the United States. The main controversies early on surrounded the issues of what level of power to be granted to the king of France ( i.e. : veto, suspensive or absolute ) and what form would the legislature take ( i.e. : unicameral or bicameral ). The Constitutional Committee proposed a bicameral legislature, but the motion was defeated 10 September 1789 ( 849 -- 89 ) in favor of one house ; the next day, they proposed an absolute veto, but were again defeated ( 673 -- 325 ) in favor of a suspensive veto, which could be over-ridden by three consecutive legislatures. New constitutional committee A second Constitutional Committee quickly replaced it, and included Talleyrand, Abbé Sieyès, and Le Chapelier from the original group, as well as new members Gui - Jean - Baptiste Target, Jacques Guillaume Thouret, Jean - Nicolas Démeunier, François Denis Tronchet, and Jean - Paul Rabaut Saint - Étienne, all of the Third Estate. Their greatest controversy faced by this new committee surrounded the issue of citizenship. Would every subject of the French Crown be given equal rights, as the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen seemed to promise, or would there be some restrictions ? The October Days ( 5 -- 6 October ) intervened and rendered the question much more complicated. In the end, a distinction was held between active citizens ( over the age of 25, paid direct taxes equal to three days ' labor ) which had political rights, and passive citizens, who had only civil rights. This conclusion was intolerable to such radical deputies as Maximilien Robespierre, and thereafter they never could be reconciled to the Constitution of 1791. Committee of Revisions A second body, the Committee of Revisions, was struck September 1790, and included Antoine Barnave, Adrien Duport, and Charles de Lameth. Because the National Assembly was both a legislature and a constitutional convention, it was not always clear when its decrees were constitutional articles or mere statutes. It was the job of this committee to sort it out. The committee became very important in the days after the Champs de Mars Massacre, when a wave of revulsion against popular movements swept France and resulted in a renewed effort to preserve powers for the Crown. The result is the rise of the Feuillants, a new political faction led by Barnave, who used his position on the committee to preserve a number of powers for the Crown, such as the nomination of ambassadors, military leaders, and ministers. Results After very long negotiations, the constitution was reluctantly accepted by King Louis XVI in September 1791. Redefining the organization of the French government, citizenship and the limits to the powers of government, the National Assembly set out to represent the interests of the general will. It abolished many `` institutions which were injurious to liberty and equality of rights ''. The National Assembly asserted its legal presence in French government by establishing its permanence in the Constitution and forming a system for recurring elections. The Assembly 's belief in a sovereign nation and in equal representation can be seen in the constitutional separation of powers. 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, the previous feudal geographic divisions were formally abolished, and the territory of the French state was divided into several administrative units, Departments ( Départements ), but with the principle of centralism. Evaluation The Assembly, as constitution - framers, were afraid that if only representatives governed France, it was likely to be ruled by the representatives ' self - interest ; therefore, the king was allowed a suspensive veto to balance out the interests of the people. By the same token, representative democracy weakened the king 's executive authority. The constitution was not egalitarian by today 's standards. It distinguished between the propertied active citizens and the poorer passive citizens. Women lacked rights to liberties such as education, freedom to speak, write, print and worship. Keith M. Baker writes in his essay `` Constitution '' that the National Assembly threaded between two options when drafting the Constitution : they could modify the existing, unwritten constitution centered on the three estates of the Estates General or they could start over and rewrite it completely. The National Assembly wanted to reorganize social structure and legalize itself : while born of the Estates General of 1789, it had abolished the tricameral structure of that body. With the onset of war and the threat of the revolution 's collapse, radical Jacobin and ultimately republican conceptions grew enormously in popularity, increasing the influence of Robespierre, Danton, Marat and the Paris Commune. When the King used his veto powers to protect non-juring priests and refused to raise militias in defense of the revolutionary government, the constitutional monarchy proved unworkable and was effectively ended by the 10 August insurrection. A National Convention was called, electing Robespierre as its first deputy ; it was the first assembly in France elected by universal male suffrage. The convention declared France a republic on 22 September 1792. See also French Revolution Kingdom of France ( 1791 -- 92 ) United States Constitution Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth 1791 Constitution References Jump up ^ The Constitution of 1791 Jump up ^ Popiel, Jennifer ; Carnes, Mark ; Kates, Gary ( 2015 ). Rousseau, Burke, and Revolution in France, 1791 ( Second ed. ). W.W. Norton & Company. p. 29. ISBN 978 - 0 - 393 - 93888 - 3. Jump up ^ Pertue, M. `` Constitution de 1791, '' in Soboul, Ed., `` Dictionnaire historique de la Revolution francaise, '' pp. 282 -- 83. Quadrige / PUF, Paris : 2005. External links `` Constitution de 1791 ''. Conseil constitutionnel ( in French ). Retrieved 14 May 2012. Constitution of 1791, University of California - Santa Cruz ( in English ) ( partial only ) Constitution of 1791 : complete text French Revolution Causes Timeline Ancien Régime Revolution Constitutional monarchy Republic Directory Consulate Glossary Significant civil and political events by year 1788 Day of the Tiles ( 7 Jun 1788 ) Assembly of Vizille ( 21 Jul 1788 ) 1789 What Is the Third Estate ? ( Jan 1789 ) Réveillon riots ( 28 Apr 1789 ) Convocation of the Estates - General ( 5 May 1789 ) National Assembly ( 17 Jun -- 9 Jul 1790 ) Tennis Court Oath ( 20 Jun 1789 ) National Constituent Assembly ( 9 Jul -- 30 Sep 1791 ) Storming of the Bastille ( 14 Jul 1789 ) Great Fear ( 20 Jul -- 5 Aug 1789 ) Abolition of Feudalism ( 4 - 11 Aug 1789 ) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ( 27 Aug 1789 ) Women 's March on Versailles ( 5 Oct 1789 ) 1790 Abolition of the Parlements ( Feb -- Jul 1790 ) Abolition of the Nobility ( 19 Jun 1790 ) Civil Constitution of the Clergy ( 12 Jul 1790 ) 1791 Flight to Varennes ( 20 -- 21 Jun 1791 ) Champ de Mars Massacre ( 17 Jul 1791 ) Declaration of Pillnitz ( 27 Aug 1791 ) The Constitution of 1791 ( 3 Sep 1791 ) Legislative Assembly ( 1 Oct 1791 -- Sep 1792 ) 1792 France declares war ( 20 Apr 1792 ) Brunswick Manifesto ( 25 Jul 1792 ) Paris Commune becomes insurrectionary ( Jun 1792 ) 10th of August ( 10 Aug 1792 ) September Massacres ( Sep 1792 ) National Convention ( 20 Sep 1792 -- 26 Oct 1795 ) First republic declared ( 22 Sep 1792 ) 1793 Execution of Louis XVI ( 21 Jan 1793 ) Revolutionary Tribunal ( 9 Mar 1793 -- 31 May 1795 ) Reign of Terror ( 27 Jun 1793 -- 27 Jul 1794 ) Committee of Public Safety Committee of General Security Fall of the Girondists ( 2 Jun 1793 ) Assassination of Marat ( 13 Jul 1793 ) Levée en masse ( 23 Aug 1793 ) The Death of Marat ( painting ) Law of Suspects ( 17 Sep 1793 ) Marie Antoinette is guillotined ( 16 Oct 1793 ) Anti-clerical laws ( throughout the year ) 1794 Danton and Desmoulins guillotined ( 5 Apr 1794 ) Law of 22 Prairial ( 10 Jun 1794 ) Thermidorian Reaction ( 27 Jul 1794 ) Robespierre guillotined ( 28 Jul 1794 ) White Terror ( Fall 1794 ) Closing of the Jacobin Club ( 11 Nov 1794 ) 1795 Constitution of the Year III ( 22 Aug 1795 ) Conspiracy of the Equals ( Nov 1795 ) Directoire ( 1795 -- 99 ) Council of Five Hundred Council of Ancients 1797 Coup of 18 Fructidor ( 4 Sep 1797 ) Second Congress of Rastatt ( Dec 1797 ) 1799 Coup of 30 Prairial VII ( 18 Jun 1799 ) Coup of 18 Brumaire ( 9 Nov 1799 ) Constitution of the Year VIII ( 24 Dec 1799 ) Consulate Revolutionary campaigns 1792 Verdun Thionville Valmy Royalist Revolts Chouannerie Vendée Dauphiné Lille Siege of Mainz Jemappes Namur ( fr ) 1793 First Coalition Siege of Toulon ( 18 Sep -- 18 Dec 1793 ) War in the Vendée Battle of Neerwinden ) Battle of Famars ( 23 May 1793 ) Capture of San Pietro and Sant'Antioco ( 25 May 1793 ) Battle of Kaiserslautern Siege of Mainz Battle of Wattignies Battle of Hondschoote Siege of Bellegarde Battle of Peyrestortes ( Pyrenees ) First Battle of Wissembourg ( 13 Oct 1793 ) Battle of Truillas ( Pyrenees ) Second Battle of Wissembourg ( 26 -- 27 Dec 1793 ) 1794 Battle of Villers - en - Cauchies ( 24 Apr 1794 ) Battle of Boulou ( Pyrenees ) ( 30 Apr -- 1 May 1794 ) Battle of Tournay ( 22 May 1794 ) Battle of Fleurus ( 26 Jun 1794 ) Chouannerie Battle of Tourcoing ( 18 May 1794 ) Battle of Aldenhoven ( 2 Oct 1794 ) 1795 Peace of Basel 1796 Battle of Lonato ( 3 -- 4 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Castiglione ( 5 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Theiningen Battle of Neresheim ( 11 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Amberg ( 24 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Würzburg ( 3 Sep 1796 ) Battle of Rovereto ( 4 Sep 1796 ) First Battle of Bassano ( 8 Sep 1796 ) Battle of Emmendingen ( 19 Oct 1796 ) Battle of Schliengen ( 26 Oct 1796 ) Second Battle of Bassano ( 6 Nov 1796 ) Battle of Calliano ( 6 -- 7 Nov 1796 ) Battle of the Bridge of Arcole ( 15 -- 17 Nov 1796 ) The Ireland Expedition ( Dec 1796 ) 1797 Naval Engagement off Brittany ( 13 Jan 1797 ) Battle of Rivoli ( 14 -- 15 Jan 1797 ) Battle of the Bay of Cádiz ( 25 Jan 1797 ) Treaty of Leoben ( 17 Apr 1797 ) Battle of Neuwied ( 18 Apr 1797 ) Treaty of Campo Formio ( 17 Oct 1797 ) 1798 French invasion of Switzerland ( 28 January -- 17 May 1798 ) French Invasion of Egypt ( 1798 -- 1801 ) Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( 23 May -- 23 Sep 1798 ) Quasi-War ( 1798 -- 1800 ) Peasants ' War ( 12 Oct -- 5 Dec 1798 ) 1799 Second Coalition ( 1798 -- 1802 ) Siege of Acre ( 20 Mar -- 21 May 1799 ) Battle of Ostrach ( 20 -- 21 Mar 1799 ) Battle of Stockach ( 25 Mar 1799 ) Battle of Magnano ( 5 Apr 1799 ) Battle of Cassano ( 27 Apr 1799 ) First Battle of Zurich ( 4 -- 7 Jun 1799 ) Battle of Trebbia ( 19 Jun 1799 ) Battle of Novi ( 15 Aug 1799 ) Second Battle of Zurich ( 25 -- 26 Sep 1799 ) 1800 Battle of Marengo ( 14 Jun 1800 ) Battle of Hohenlinden ( 3 Dec 1800 ) League of Armed Neutrality ( 1800 -- 02 ) 1801 Treaty of Lunéville ( 9 Feb 1801 ) Treaty of Florence ( 18 Mar 1801 ) Algeciras Campaign ( 8 Jul 1801 ) 1802 Treaty of Amiens ( 25 Mar 1802 ) Military leaders French Army Eustache Charles d'Aoust Pierre Augereau Alexandre de Beauharnais Jean - Baptiste Bernadotte Louis - Alexandre Berthier Jean - Baptiste Bessières Guillaume - Marie - Anne Brune Jean François Carteaux Jean Étienne Championnet Chapuis de Tourville Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine Louis - Nicolas Davout Louis Desaix Jacques François Dugommier Thomas - Alexandre Dumas Charles François Dumouriez Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino Louis - Charles de Flers Paul Grenier Emmanuel de Grouchy Jacques Maurice Hatry Lazare Hoche Jean - Baptiste Jourdan François Christophe de Kellermann Jean - Baptiste Kléber Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Jean Lannes Charles Leclerc Claude Lecourbe François Joseph Lefebvre Jacques MacDonald Jean - Antoine Marbot Jean Baptiste de Marbot François Séverin Marceau - Desgraviers Auguste de Marmont André Masséna Bon - Adrien Jeannot de Moncey Jean Victor Marie Moreau Édouard Mortier, duc de Trévise Joachim Murat Michel Ney Pierre - Jacques Osten ( fr ) Nicolas Oudinot Catherine - Dominique de Pérignon Jean - Charles Pichegru Józef Poniatowski Laurent de Gouvion Saint - Cyr Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer Jean - Mathieu - Philibert Sérurier Joseph Souham Jean - de-Dieu Soult Louis - Gabriel Suchet Belgrand de Vaubois Claude Victor - Perrin, Duc de Belluno French Navy Charles - Alexandre Linois Opposition Austria József Alvinczi Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen Count of Clerfayt ( Walloon ) Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze ( Swiss ) Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth Pál Kray ( Hungarian ) Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc ( French ) Maximilian Baillet de Latour ( Walloon ) Karl Mack von Leiberich Rudolf Ritter von Otto ( Saxon ) Prince Josias of Saxe - Coburg - Saalfeld Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss - Plauen Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló ( Hungarian ) Karl Philipp Sebottendorf Dagobert von Wurmser Britain Sir Ralph Abercromby Admiral Sir James Saumarez Admiral Sir Edward Pellew Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Dutch Republic William V, Prince of Orange Prussia Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick - Wolfenbüttel Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe - Ingelfingen Russia Alexander Korsakov Alexander Suvorov Spain Luis Firmin de Carvajal Antonio Ricardos Other significant figures and factions Society of 1789 Jean Sylvain Bailly Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld - Liancourt Isaac René Guy le Chapelier Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Charles - Maurice de Talleyrand - Périgord Nicolas de Condorcet Feuillants and monarchiens Madame de Lamballe Madame du Barry Louis de Breteuil Loménie de Brienne Charles Alexandre de Calonne de Chateaubriand Jean Chouan Grace Elliott Arnaud de La Porte Jean - Sifrein Maury Jacques Necker François - Marie, marquis de Barthélemy Guillaume - Mathieu Dumas Antoine Barnave Lafayette Alexandre - Théodore - Victor, comte de Lameth Charles Malo François Lameth André Chénier Jean - François Rewbell Camille Jordan Madame de Staël Boissy d'Anglas Jean - Charles Pichegru Pierre Paul Royer - Collard Girondists Jacques Pierre Brissot Roland de La Platière Madame Roland Father Henri Grégoire Étienne Clavière Marquis de Condorcet Charlotte Corday Marie Jean Hérault Jean Baptiste Treilhard Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve Jean Debry Jean - Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil Olympe de Gouges Jean - Baptiste Robert Lindet Louis Marie de La Révellière - Lépeaux The Plain Abbé Sieyès de Cambacérès Charles François Lebrun Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot Philippe Égalité Louis Philippe I Mirabeau Antoine Christophe Merlin de Thionville Jean Joseph Mounier Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours François de Neufchâteau Montagnards Maximilien Robespierre Georges Danton Jean - Paul Marat Camille Desmoulins Louis Antoine de Saint - Just Paul Nicolas, vicomte de Barras Louis Philippe I Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint - Fargeau Jacques - Louis David Marquis de Sade Jacques - Louis David Georges Couthon Roger Ducos Jean - Marie Collot d'Herbois Jean - Henri Voulland Philippe - Antoine Merlin de Douai Antoine Quentin Fouquier - Tinville Philippe - François - Joseph Le Bas Marc - Guillaume Alexis Vadier Jean - Pierre - André Amar Prieur de la Côte - d'Or Prieur de la Marne Gilbert Romme Jean Bon Saint - André Jean - Lambert Tallien Pierre Louis Prieur Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Antoine Christophe Saliceti Hébertists and Enragés Jacques Hébert Jacques Nicolas Billaud - Varenne Pierre Gaspard Chaumette Charles - Philippe Ronsin Antoine - François Momoro François - Nicolas Vincent François Chabot Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte Jean - Baptiste - Joseph Gobel François Hanriot Jacques Roux Stanislas - Marie Maillard Charles - Philippe Ronsin Jean - François Varlet Theophile Leclerc Claire Lacombe Pauline Léon Gracchus Babeuf Sylvain Maréchal Others Charles X Louis XVI Louis XVII Louis XVIII Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien Louis Henri, Prince of Condé Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé Marie Antoinette Napoléon Bonaparte Lucien Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Fesch Joséphine de Beauharnais Joachim Murat Jean Sylvain Bailly Jacques - Donatien Le Ray Guillaume - Chrétien de Malesherbes Talleyrand Thérésa Tallien Gui - Jean - Baptiste Target Catherine Théot List of people associated with the French Revolution Influential thinkers Les Lumières Beaumarchais Edmund Burke Anacharsis Cloots Charles - Augustin de Coulomb Pierre Claude François Daunou Diderot Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Antoine Lavoisier Montesquieu Thomas Paine Jean - Jacques Rousseau Abbé Sieyès Voltaire Mary Wollstonecraft Cultural impact La Marseillaise French Tricolour Liberté, égalité, fraternité Marianne Bastille Day Panthéon French Republican Calendar Cult of the Supreme Being Cult of Reason Temple of Reason Sans - culottes Metric system Phrygian cap Women in the French Revolution Symbolism in the French Revolution Historiography of the French Revolution Influence of the French Revolution Constitutions of France 1791 1793 ( Year I ) 1795 ( Year III ) 1799 ( Year VIII ) 1802 ( Year X ) 1804 ( Year XII ) 1814 1815 1830 1848 1852 1875 1940 1945 1946 1958 ( Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ∙ Charter for the Environment ) Proposed : Girondin constitutional project ( 1793 ) VIAF : 185919507 LCCN : n85160664 GND : 4155189 - 8 SUDOC : 028218981 BNF : cb16683749p ( data ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_Constitution_of_1791&oldid=800778405 '' Categories : 1791 in law 1791 events of the French Revolution Defunct constitutions Constitutions of France Legal history of France 1791 documents Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from May 2008 All articles needing additional references Use dmy dates from August 2016 Articles with French - language external links Articles containing French - language text CS1 French - language sources ( fr ) Interlanguage link template link number Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Català Deutsch Español Euskara Français Galego 한국어 Italiano Lietuvių 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Simple English Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 15 September 2017, at 16 : 25. 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Question: what was the significance of the constitution of 1791 in france
Answer: the first written constitution in France