The National Assembly 1789-92

okay. With the capitulation of Louis to the authority of

the Assembly and the rise of a revolutionary city government

in Paris now, the revolution had a real problem.

They had to fix the country.

They had to run the country.

But there were competing visions about what France would now

become. Would have become, ah, British style monarchy or would

have become a Russo s republic, ruled by the will

of the people, the general will or something else.

American style government, perhaps nobody really knew.

And the assembly was made up of a variety of

people with different visions for the country.

Meanwhile, the famine went on and violence erupted as mobs

rampaged somewhat in celebration and sometimes looting and pillaging throughout

France. And there was no Constitution who were the various

groups in the National Assembly.

This is important to understand, because each of these groups

is going to have a dominant role at one point

or the other in this story.

And it's also understand why the French Revolution is going

to take a very different route in the American one.

We even get our terms left and right from this

time period to the right of the speaker in the

National Assembly sat the conservative revolutionaries.

Many of them were nobles or churchman who favored reform

but did not want to create some radical new vision.

In general, they favorite a British style system where the

upper class and the king would still have rights of

governing. But the people's will could be expressed indirectly through

some sort of parliament.

Muchas Britain was at that time period.

One of their leaders was Lafayette.

He wrote a surprisingly revolutionary document, the Declaration of the

Rights of Man, which will look at in a moment.

Lafayette, of course, was an aristocrat, but he had fought

as an officer in the American army during the American

Revolution, and so he had credentials with the people as

being someone who had a vision of reform and some

democracy, at least for France.

In the center was the plane.

The French assembly had bleachers and the plane were delegates

who are uncommitted to one party or the other.

To the left of the speaker sat a very high

bleacher with people who had a more radical vision for

change. The center left where the Giron dean named after

he region in France.

Many of these were middle class professionals, doctors and lawyers.

They didn't particularly like the nobility.

Most of them were from outside of Paris, and they

didn't think the king should have much roll it all.

If anything, the king would merely be ceremonial.

Aristocrats would have no privileges, and perhaps noble title should

be gotten rid of all.

Together they envisioned more of an American style government where

aristocracy and monarchy we're gone for the picture.

And then you have the Jackal mints.

The very, very far left, led by Maximilian robes.

Pierre will be a critical player later on.

In our story, they're named after a clubhouse.

The Jackal been monastery, which was abandoned, that they occupied

in order to meet and plan their political strategy.

The Jacobins were Russo ists.

They wanted to destroy everything about French society and rebuild

it a new.

They hated monarchy.

They didn't particularly like the church.

Many of them were anti Christian, not just anti church

but anti religion.

They wanted to create an empire reason, a utopia, and

they were very strong in Paris, where they had a

lot of support from the lower classes of the Parisian

streets. The who will meet more as we go along

in our story.

Initially, everybody was unified in their joy of success.

But very quickly, debates broke out about what the policies

of the new government should be.

But during August of 17 89 the days immediately after

the fall of the best to you, there was some

unity amongst all the factions about creating something new in

the name of the people, the nobles in the National

Assembly voluntarily or perhaps fearing the consequences.

If they did not act, renounced their rights and privileges,

nobles would still exist.

They still had their property and title, but they no

longer had any legal authority over anybody else.

Off. It is in this month that Lafayette also writes

the Declaration of the rights of man and citizen.

It has 17 statements about basic rights.

It's not a Constitution.

In fact, the Americans made a Constitution and then followed

with the Bill of Rights, whereas the French began with

the Bill of Rights and didn't get around to a

constitution till 17 91.

In fact, during the French Revolution, they'd write three of

them. Lafayette's documents, written in consultation with the American Ambassador,

Thomas Jefferson, and reflects the ideas of the Enlightenment and

also, to some extent, of Jean Jacques Rousseau.

Notice the words.

The opening statement is that men are born and remain

free and equal in rights.

Social distinctions may only be founded upon the general good.

This was a direct shot at aristocracy.

The aim of the government was to defend the rights

of man.

These are liberty, property safety and resistance to oppression.

This is a little bit different than lock and reflects

many of the other writings of the time.

It defines liberty is the freedom to do anything that

doesn't injure anybody else.

Notice that it doesn't compose a standard of right and

wrong in the abstract, except that you probably shouldn't hurt

other people.

This is rather ironic, given the direction the revolution will

eventually end up going.

Russo appears in this statement that law should express the

general will.

On the surface, this might just mean something like popular

sovereignty, and in fact, that's probably what the Conservatives attended

that the people would vote or vote indirectly for a

legislature which would be chosen from the wiser sorts of

people. This is Voltaire and ultimately, of course, Plato's rule

of the wise.

But it did say that every citizen should participate or

at least through the representative, participate in the foundation of

the law, not in the creation of every little law

that's going to be created.

And here we begin to see where some of the

differences would breakthrough between the left and the right, or

the conservatives and the radicals.

It did argue for freedom of opinion, including religion, as

long as it didn't disturb the public order and also

free speech.

Of course, there were practical matters.

It had to be attended to.

In fact, from August to October of 17 89 mob

riots terrorized France, the so called enraged once, where the

great fear and the new revolutionary government, ironically, had to

send troops to shoot some of the people who are

simply rampaging around the countryside, stealing food and engaging in

mob violence and riots.

Now, one of the big supporters of the National Assembly

were the poor people of Paris, the people without knickers,

as they recalled, leave it to the French to use

fashion to define class.

The song Kula, of course, rich people had tailors to

make thes skinny tailored pants that the nobles enjoyed, whereas

the poor folks just had loose trousers.

Thus the name the song Kalak were very angry at

the existing system and backed the Geraldine and the documents

the left.

They also commonly marched and rioted, sometimes even as we'll

see storming into the assembly itself to demand their way.

One of the early movements of the song, Kulat, was

the march of the Fish Wives.

The royal family, still officially the rulers of France, although

now waiting to see what their role would be under

National Assembly, was alleged to have held a party at

Versailles in which they stomped all over the three color

revolutionary flag.

The treacle.

You're whether this happened or not, it doesn't matter.

The rumor got back to Paris, and along with rumors

that the nobles were out in verse I plotting against

the revolution.

This caused anger amongst the common folk of the city.

It's about a 10 to 14 mile march from the

center of Paris to preside today, of course, for size

simply a suburb of Paris.

But those days, worse, I was outside of Paris, a

riot began in the fish market, lead, allegedly by strong

women who sold fish that their husbands caught in the

river scent.

These were women who carried baskets of fish and carried

sharp knives, so they were a fearsome bunch.

And in the fish market, as people purchase their fish,

the rumors of royal plotting spread and the fish wives

led a march all the way out to Paris, where

they demanded to see the royal family.

At one point, they broke in, executing some of the

guards who tried to hold them back and putting their

heads on poles.

They turned to Marie Antoinette's bedroom in shredded the bed,

threatening to kill her.

But she had taken refuge in another part of the

palace. Finally, Louis convinced the leaders of the mob to

back off and promised that the royal family would go

back to Paris and live with the people, which they

did. A nod parade, the royal carriage, the surviving guards

and the marching and cheering fish.

Wives and rioters marched all the way back to Paris.

Imagine looking outside the carriage and being Marie Antoinette, seeing

the heads of your guards on the poles outside as

you roll back into the city where people hate you.

The royal family took up residence in a palace in

the middle of Paris, the to Larry, but now they

were the center of the revolution, and the position was

much more endangered.

In November of 17 89 the National Assembly decided to

confiscate church property and sell it off.

They thought that this might help with the financial problems.

It didn't solve them all, and in fact, irritated the

pope. The 17 90 civil constitution of the clergy put

the church under direct government control, put priests on the

state payroll.

But of course they would have to then obey the

state instead of the pope.

Half of the priest in France, 90% Catholic, refused, and

the pope condemned the revolution.

This created a problem.

Counter revolutionary armies began to appear in the countryside, sometimes

led by nobles who'd fled the country and snuck back

in tow.

Lead the resistance to the revolution.

These nobles or emigres, recruited people who were devoutly Catholic

and were offended by the new government's policies toward the

church. Things begin to get more difficult.

For the assembly.

17 91 constitution was finally issued, but it greatly weakened

the role of the king.

Basically, he could delay a law for a year and

then be ignored.

Now. It seems like the king was almost useless, and

other kings in Europe began to fear that the virus

of revolution would spread to their country.

The emperor of Austria was afraid that his sister, Queen

Marie Antoinette, was under physical danger, and apparently so did

the Royals.

As Austrian Prussia gathered troops near the northern border of

France, Louis and Marie decided to attempt to flee the

country. One night, disguised his servants, they smuggled themselves out

of Paris and fled toward the border.

But as morning came in, the sun arose just a

few miles from safety.

They were stopped at the village of Veron, and they're

recognized fleeing toward the enemy.

Clearly trying to run.

This made them look like traitors.

They were taken back to Paris, put back in the

two Lory Palace, But this time revolutionary guards surrounded the

palace so that they could not escape.

Yeah, in April of 17 92 heavily pressured by this

year on Dean faction, the National Assembly voted to declare

war on Austria, who is now on the border with

an army ready to invade France, England, Prussia and other

countries would later join the Austrians and the European armies

begin to march into France and threatened the revolution.

This increased panic.

People believe that spies were everywhere.

People were hoarding food.

The rumor went that Paris would be burned to the

ground and then everybody would be killed.

Um, so this was a terrifying time for the revolution.

And of course, this resulted in panic in Paris itself.

In August, the song coolant mob stormed the palace where

the royal family lived.

They fled down the street to the assembly, and the

mob chased them.

As the royal family entered the assembly seeking refuge, the

mob followed them in and demanded that their favorite factions

be given power.

The left sees this moment.

Conservatives were arrested even though they had led the revolution.

The Marquis de Lafayette, as a nobleman was almost killed,

and Onley survived because American agents from the embassy smuggled

him out of the country.

The man who'd written the Declaration of the Rights of

Man was now considered anti revolutionary.

Now the royal family was thrown in prison.

The National Assembly collapsed and the left declared that they

were a new government.

The national convention, the second phase of the French Revolution,

was about to begin.

We'll see in the next start part of our story.

How the French Revolution goes from asking for moderate changes

to asking for radical changes and how some of the

promises of the Declaration of the Rights of Man were

betrayed by the revolution itself.

Or, as someone once said, the revolution began to eat

her own Children.

The National Assembly 1789-92

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