Active and passive citizens

During the French Revolution, a distinction was made for a time between active and passive citizens. In 1791, the Legislative Assembly was chosen by a process of indirect election; the Electors of the Assembly were themselves elected by "active" citizens, male citizens whose annual taxes equalled the local wages paid for three days of labour. This disfranchised about half of the male citizens of France. Even higher economic requirements for the Electors and the members of the Assembly left only about 50,000 eligible men in a country of some 25 million people.

Slavery, throughout the Revolution, remained common in the colonies. The abolition of slavery in the colonies would have affected planters who were represented in the assemblies by deputies, particularly the Lameths. The coloured free saw that their rights were being taken from them and finally on this date in 1791 the assembly decided to withdraw their civil rights. However, after the Haitian Revolution and new freedom of blacks in French colonies, in 1794 radical Jacobins reinstated the rights of blacks. Furthermore, slavery was abolished in all French colonies, and free blacks of those colonies were made electable to the French government as colonial representatives. Along with this the rights for free association for workers and the right to strike were also taken away. After a series of strikes on June 14, 1791 in workshops located in Paris, the Loi Le Chapelier was passed. The intention was to establish a free labour market by forbidding associations by workers and also the formation of trade unions.

It remained that all had the right to contribute towards the making of the laws, but on December 23, 1789 voting rights only extended to property owners. This reflected a belief that only those who had a stake in decisions made for society as a whole and those who had shown they could manage their own affairs should be eligible for political involvement. Three categories were created to divide the citizens of France: Passive Citizens, Active Citizens, and the Electors. The only members of society that could vote were the members that paid a certain amount of taxes.

Passive Citizens were those who had no property rights or voting rights. They were entitled to protection by law with relation to their belongings and their liberty, but had no say in the making of government bodies. This group totalled around three million men within France. The constitution of 1791 reduced the women of France to passive citizens.

Active Citizens numbered around four million men. They were literate adults who could use reason. They needed to speak French and have been a resident for more than one year. They had a stake in the government bodies. They paid taxes equal to about three days work a year, a sum of about 1 ½ and 3 livres. These men met in primary assemblies (assemblees primaires) to nominate electors and members of the councils in their municipalities. Active citizens (and their sons over the age of 18) were also, in that period, the basis for the French National Guard, the military bastion of the middle class.

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