Louis XVI and the Legislative Assembly

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 in France perforce underwent radical restructuring. This article covers the one-year period from 1 October 1791 to September 1792, during which France was governed by the Legislative Assembly, operating under the French Constitution of 1791, between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.

The National Constituent Assembly dissolved itself on 1 October 1791. Upon Robespierre's motion it had decreed that none of its members should be capable of sitting in the next legislature, this is known as the Self-Denying Ordinance. Its legacy, the Constitution of 1791, attempted to institute a liberal constitutional monarchy. This had been envisioned as an arrangement not to be tampered with for a generation but, in the event, it did not last a year.

In the attempt to govern, the Assembly failed altogether. In the words of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, "It left behind an empty treasury, an undisciplined army and navy, and a people debauched by safe and successful riot."

In the elections of 1791, despite a limited electoral franchise, the party which desired to carry the Revolution further had a success disproportionate to its numbers, a triumph for the Jacobin Club and by its affiliated societies throughout France.

The Legislative Assembly first met on 1 October 1791. It consisted of 745 members. Few were nobles, very few were clergymen, and the great body came from the middle class. The members were generally young, and, since none had sat in the previous Assembly, they largely lacked national political experience.

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