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the National Assembly

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composed of the representatives of the three states called together by Louis XVI in May 1789

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it becomes transformed by the victory of the revolution into the National Assembly

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July 1789

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after storming of the Bastille

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one of Louis XVI's brothers is so disgusted with the political situation and the intervention of the populace, so he decides to emigrate

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a few others have left and went home as well

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but the great majority of clerics and the nobles join with the Third Estate

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become part of the National Assembly

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governed France in conjunction with the king

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started receiving news from all over country

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peasants had

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taken matters into their own hands

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attacked chateaus

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seized registers

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refused to pay taxes

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August 4, 1789

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peak of rebellion in countryside

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the only way to respond to this is to recognize that many of our feudal rights must end

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make wholesale sacrifices of rights and exemptions

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propose article to abolish feudal regime completely

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but then pull back on this

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eventually it is qualified in a significant way

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the great mass of harvest dues are regarded as a legal form of rent

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"feudalism is abolished, but the system must continue as it is until we find a way for the lords to be compensated for what they lost"

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this hesitation as to whether the feudal system is or is not abolished completely

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becomes the center of the rural phase of the revolution for the next few years

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August decrees are much more clear about other matters

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Article 9. privilege in taxation abolished

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one common taxation system for all French people

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Article 10. all special privileges of provinces, towns and communities

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Article 17. Louis XVI is the Restorer of French liberty

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after all he was the one who called the Estates General together

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three days after the storming of the Bastille he rode into Paris from Versailles

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at that moment he weds the white color of the Bourbon royal family to the red and blue colors of the city of Paris to create the red, white, and blue symbol of the French nation

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Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, August 27, 1789

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1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights

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2. these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression

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3. the principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation, with the people

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like their colleagues across the Atlantic, legitimate power now must come from below

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this is the most radical change in the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen

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legitimacy now came from below

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Louis XVI had been King of France by the Grace of God

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was responsible to God alone for the well-being of his people

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what the National Assembly was effectively saying was that they were reversing the whole foundation of political legitimacy

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4. liberty consists in being able to do anything that is not harmful to others, only the law may determine these limits

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these rights are not gifts of the monarch, they are rights that belong to people as human beings

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has 17 articles

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each is a direct repudiation of monarchical and feudal society

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the task of the National Assembly is to now put these principle in practice

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key elements of society changed

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absolute monarchy to: constitutional monarchy

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divine right to: popular sovereignty

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privilege to: equality in taxes, laws and beliefs

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hierarchy of birth to: merit, talent

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partial abolition of feudalism