Begun in the summer of 1789, the National Assembly finally completed the Constitution of 1791. The short-lived French Constitution of 1791 was the very first written Constitution of France that would be representative of the nation. One of the basic aspects of the revolution was adopting constitutionality and establishing sovereignty, following the steps of the United States of America. The previously adopted Declaration of Rights was implemented as its Preamble. The French Revolution (1789–1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... Constitutionality is the status of a law, a procedure, or an acts accordance with the laws or guidelines set forth in the applicable constitution. ... Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized... The Declaration of Colonial Rights was a set of resolutions adopted by the First Continental Congress on October 14, 1774 to ...state the rights of the Colonies in general, the several instances in which these rights are violated or infringed, and the means most proper to be pursued for obtaining... Look up Preamble in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The Constitution adopted the preferred idea among reformists at that time - the creation of a French constitutional monarchy. The main controversy was the level of power to be granted to the King of France in such a system. Gilbert du Montier proposed a combination of the American and British systems, introducing a bicameral parliament, with the King having the suspensive veto power in the legislature, modeled to the authorities of the US President. This proposal however, failed. Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A constitutional monarchy or limited monarchy is a form of government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges an elected or hereditary monarch as head of state, as opposed to an absolute monarchy, where the monarch is not... Kings ruled in France from the Middle Ages to 1848. ... This article is about bicameralism in government. ... The House of Representatives Chamber of the Parliament of Australia in Canberra. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For the pop band, see Presidents of the United States of America. ...

After very long negotiations, the long expected first Constitution was reluctantly accepted by King Louis XVI on September 1791. Unicameralism was adopted as per the proposal of Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, in order to disable the possibilities of the nobility's overpowering in the assembly. Gilbert's idea of the King's Veto also passed. Sovereignty, though, was clearly defined as belonging to the people: "1. Sovereignty is one, indivisible, inalienable, and imprescriptible. It appertains to the nation; no section of the people nor any individual may assume the exercise thereof." For unicameral alphabets, see the article letter case. For The unicameral, see Nebraska Legislature. ... Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes, 1817, by Jacques-Louis David Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (May 3, 1748 – June 20, 1836) (IPA: or ) was a French abbé and statesman, one of the chief theorists of the French Revolution, French Consulate, and First French Empire. ... Nobility is a traditional hereditary status (see hereditary titles) that exists today in many countries (mainly present or former monarchies). ... “Sovereign” redirects here. ...

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 truly believed in a sovereign nation and made every attempt to achieve equal representation. This can be seen with the separation of powers. {sop paragraph here} The Assembly was afraid that if France was run only by representatives, it was likely to be represented by people with self-interest again; therefore, the King was allowed a suspensive veto to balance out the interests of the people. In the same way, a representative “democracy” was set up to weaken the King’s executive authority.

The principle of Separation of powers was the basis for the Constitution: The National Assembly was the legislative body, the King and the Ministers made up the executive branch and the judicial branch was independent from the other two. On a local level, the previous feudal divisions were formally abolished, and the French state was divided into several administrative units, Departments (Départements), but with the principle of centralism. The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Separation of powers is a term coined by French political Enlightenment thinker Baron de Montesquieu[1][2], is a model for the governance of democratic states. ... A legislatureis a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to ratify laws. ... In political science and constitutional law, the executive is the branch of government responsible for the day-to-day management of the state. ... Roland pledges his fealty to Charlemagne; from a manuscript of a chanson de geste Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century), in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval European political system comprised of a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations among the... Administrative division is a generic term for an administrative region within a country — on an arbitrary level below that of the sovereign state — typically with a local government encompassing multiple municipalities, counties, or provinces with a certain degree of autonomy. ... A department is geographically defined area of a centralized state which functions as an administrative unit, usually at provincial level, with or without a representative assembly. ... Centralization is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding decision-making, become concentrated within a particular location and/or group. ...

The definition of an active and passive citizen was a large result of the constitution. To say that citizens have certain rights was a big accomplishment of the revolution. However, another problem that resulted from the revolution was discrimination against women’s rights to liberties such as education, freedom to speak, write, print and worship. Even though establishing a Constitution was a big accomplishment, it still confirmed many of the ongoing problems in Europe and even in the United States.

Keith M. Baker discusses in his essay “Constitution” the ambiguity there was in writing the Constitution. The National Assembly essentially had two options when drafting the Constitution: 1. they could fix the constitution or 2. they could start over and rewrite it completely. The National Assembly mainly wanted to reorganize social structure and legalize the National Assembly as a change from the 3 Estates General.

A Rousseauian solution to the Constitution problem would be to start a new one, forgetting the traditions of the Ancien Regime and creating a completely new social order. Allow the King to maintain the monarchy, but provide a unicameral legislative body to weaken his executive authority.

A conservative solution to writing the Constitution would be to keep the traditional ideas of the Ancien Regime but fix the problems. To conservatives, there is no need to change the monarchy or to get rid of the social order. However, after the revolution, it was obvious that the problems of the Ancien Regime were too big to simply fix.

With war beginning and with increasingly radical, and ultimately republican, forces coming to the fore in the Assembly, this proved entirely unworkable. The August 10th insurrection was the effective end of the monarchy. The constitution dissolved in a chaos of forces, with the radical and even occasionally terroristic Paris Commune, the municipal government of Paris, holding the balance of power in the country until the beginning of the National Convention on October 1, 1792. Look up republic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... On August 10, 1792, during the French Revolution, a mob – with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the insurrectionary Paris Commune – besieged the Tuileries palace. ... The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795, and especially from 1792 until 1795. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... This article is about the legislative body and constitutional convention during the French Revolution. ... is the 274th day of the year (275th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

External links

• </nowiki>history/constitutionof1791.html The Constitution of 1791