1791 French legislative election
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All 745 seats in the Legislative Assembly 373 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 4 300 000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legislative elections were held in France between the 29th of August and 5th of September 1791 and were the first national elections to the Legislature. They took place during a period of turmoil caused by the Flight and Arrest at Varennes, the Jacobin split, the Champ-de-Mars Massacre and the Pillnitz Declaration. Suffrage was limited to men paying taxes, although less than 25% of those eligible to do so voted.[1]
Background
The Flight to Varennes, also known as the Flight of Louis XVI, on 20 June 1791 caused unrest in the Constituent Assembly and helped to discredit the constitutional monarchy in the eyes of the Parisian patriots. Even though the deputies arrested both Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette the very next day, in the minds of some, the Republic became a possible regime. The Constituante, which on the whole remained monarchist and legalist, declared that Louis XVI had been kidnapped and was therefore not guilty, in response to an influx of petitions calling for the King's deposition. This stance led to a petition being lodged by over 6,000 people on the Champ-de-Mars, while the moderates united in support of the threatened king and, on 17 July 1791, used this demonstration, which had been declared contrary to the Constitution, as a pretext to restore order. However, this return to order led to bloody repression during the Champ-de-Mars massacre.[2]
This bloody clash, which claimed 50 victims, created a rift between the democratic revolutionaries and the liberal bourgeoisie; it was the culmination of several months of social convulsions and revolutionary agitation.[3] The day before, supporters of the king and the Constitution had split from the Jacobins and decided to create their own faction in the Rue Saint-Honoré, in the former Convent of the Feuillants, whose name they took. At the same time, Louis XVI was restored to his throne by the decrees of 15 and 16 July 1791. On the 14th of September 1791, he accepted the revised Constitution, the executive branch of which had been strengthened, and swore an oath of allegiance the following day.[4] The deputies of the Constituent Assembly went their separate ways on 30 September 1791, believing that they had completed the union of royalty and the censorious bourgeoisie against the popular upsurge and the aristocratic counter-revolution.[5] For the vast majority of them, the Revolution was over.[6]
In July 1791 the National Constituent Assembly created a constitution committee of 30 members, which drew up a constitution adopted on 3 September. This provided for a 745-seat Legislative Assembly with members elected for a two-year term.[7]
Elective Law
The representative system put in place by the Constituents for the 1791 election had the sole aim of selecting deputies who, in the name of the nation, would be free of any hindrance or control to exercise sovereignty; in fact, the election was merely a function granted by the nation to a few citizens recognised as suitable to serve it in order to legitimise and constitute the Legislative Assembly.[8]
The law required the electors to assemble when summoned, to check the credentials of the citizens present, to elect a bureau and then to make appointments. These assemblies were prohibited from deliberating, adopting by-laws, supplementing their choices with instructions or mandatory mandates, and from corresponding with each other. Finally, they had to separate once their work was done. As soon as the results are announced, the elected representatives escape their electors and, regardless of the constituency that elected them, derive their authority from the nation as a whole.[8]
This practice allows the elections to take place, like those that follow, in a total political vacuum, i.e. with no publicly debated issues; there is no public competition between candidates, no programme and no declared candidates. This political vacuum, which has become the rule, is leading to the emergence of a debate on political support through illegal organisations, on the fringes and outside any legitimacy. The absence of issues and declared candidacies - the law recognises nothing between the state and individual citizens - favours the control of the electoral machine by those who, being in a better position, can then impose their political choices on the various ballots and choose the men.
Results
Around 4.3 million men voted in the election.[9] There were no formal political parties, although informal groups such as the Feuillants, Jacobins and the Réunion club emerged.[10] Of the 767 members during the Assembly's term, 278 only ever cast 'no' votes to motions, while 242 only ever voted 'yes'.[10]
Aftermath
The newly-elected Assembly convened for the first time on 1 October.[11]
References
- ^ Jeremy D. Popkin (2016) A Short History of the French Revolution Routledge, p50
- ^ Castelot, André; Gosselin, Louis Léon Théodore (January 1, 1968). "L'Agonie de la Royauté" [The Agony of Royalty]. Les grandes heures de la Révolution française [The great hours of the French Revolution] (Book) (in French). Paris, France: Éditions Perrin. pp. 324–327. ISBN 2262004420.
- ^ Rudé, George (1986). La foule révolutionnaire, l’imaginaire du complot et la violence fondatrice : aux origines de la nation française [The Crowd in the French Revolution] (in French). Greenwood Press. p. 99.
- ^ Louis Accepts the Constitution (14–25 September 1791), 1791-09-14, retrieved 2024-01-17
- ^ Albert Soboul, Template:Opcit p. 266
- ^ Furet, François; Richet, Denis (1973). La Révolution française. Fayard. p. 145.
- ^ Essai de monarchie constitutionnelle (1789-1791) National Assembly
- ^ a b Furet, François; Ozouf, Mona. Dictionnaire critique de la Révolution française. pp. 126–135.
- ^ Jacques Godechot (1965). Les Révolutions (1770-1799). PUF. pp. 306–309.
- ^ a b C. J. Mitchell (1984) Political Divisions within the Legislative Assembly of 1791 French Historical Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp356–389 JSTOR 286298
- ^ William Doyle (2018) The Oxford History of the French Revolution Oxford University Press, p174
