The National Assembly: France's Revolutionary Body
The Powder Keg: France Before the Revolution
To understand the birth of the National Assembly, we must first look at the conditions that made it possible. France in the late 18th century was a society straining under deep inequalities and poor leadership. The country was divided into three rigid social classes, or "Estates":
| Estate | Who They Were | Population (%) | Key Privileges & Burdens |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Estate | The Clergy (Church officials) | ~0.5% | Owned 10% of land; collected the tithe4; paid no direct taxes. |
| Second Estate | The Nobility | ~1.5% | Held top government/military posts; had feudal rights over peasants; paid few taxes. |
| Third Estate | Everyone Else (Bourgeoisie5, artisans, city workers, peasants) | ~98% | Paid all taxes (taille6, gabelle7, etc.); had no political power; bore the feudal dues. |
This system was mathematically and morally unfair. Imagine a school where 98 students (the Third Estate) must pay for all the school's supplies and repairs, while 2 students (the First and Second Estates) not only pay nothing but also get to make all the rules for everyone. Furthermore, France was nearly bankrupt from wars, including aiding the American Revolution, and from the extravagant spending of the royal court at Versailles. King Louis XVI's solution was to try to tax the nobility. They refused, forcing the King to call the Estates-General in May 1789 for the first time in 175 years.
From Estates-General to National Assembly
The meeting of the Estates-General in Versailles immediately hit a wall: the voting procedure. Traditionally, each Estate met separately and cast one collective vote. This meant the First and Second Estates (representing 2% of the population) could always outvote the Third Estate (98%). The Third Estate, whose delegates were largely educated lawyers and officials from the bourgeoisie, demanded "vote by head" (one delegate, one vote) in a single assembly. They argued they represented the vast majority of the nation. The King and the privileged orders refused.
After six weeks of stalemate, on June 17, 1789, the Third Estate took revolutionary action. Led by figures like Honoré Mirabeau and the Abbé Sieyès, they declared that they were the only legitimate representatives of the nation. They voted to call themselves the National Assembly. This was the moment the French Revolution truly began. By this act, they transferred sovereignty (supreme power) from the King to the nation itself.
Three days later, on June 20, they found their meeting hall locked and guarded by soldiers. Fearing dissolution by the King, they moved to a nearby indoor tennis court. There, they swore the Tennis Court Oath, pledging "not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established and consolidated on solid foundations." This was a direct promise to write a constitution, a set of rules limiting the King's power and guaranteeing citizens' rights.
The Assembly in Action: Decrees and the Declaration
The National Assembly did not just make promises; it immediately began to govern. Under immense pressure from popular uprisings in Paris, like the storming of the Bastille on July 14, the King was forced to recognize the Assembly. In a single, famous night session on August 4, 1789, nobles and clergy rose to voluntarily renounce their feudal privileges. This "August 4 Decrees" legally abolished the feudal system.
More importantly, on August 26, 1789, the National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. This document became the revolutionary creed. Its first article stated: "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights." It established natural rights to liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. It declared that sovereignty resides in the nation, that law is the expression of the general will, and that all citizens are equal before it. It guaranteed freedom of speech, press, and religion.
The Assembly then focused on its primary goal: writing a constitution. This process took two years. The resulting Constitution of 1791 established a constitutional monarchy, with a legislative assembly elected by tax-paying citizens. During this time, the Assembly also seized church lands to pay off the national debt and reorganized France into 83 departments. In September 1791, with the constitution complete, the National Assembly disbanded, making way for the new Legislative Assembly.
Popular Sovereignty in a Classroom: A Modern Example
The core idea of the National Assembly—popular sovereignty—is not just a historical concept. We can see it in action in simpler settings today. Imagine your class needs to decide on a theme for the school fair. The old way (like the Estates-General): The teacher (the King), the class president (First Estate), and the group of top students (Second Estate) meet alone and decide for everyone. The rest of the class (Third Estate) must just accept it, even if they hate the idea.
The National Assembly way: The entire class holds a meeting. Every student gets one vote. They debate ideas openly, then hold a secret ballot. The idea with the most votes wins. The authority to decide (sovereignty) comes from all the students (the nation), not just a small group. The teacher agrees to enforce the winning choice, just as the King was (theoretically) bound by the constitution created by the nation's representatives. This system, while sometimes messy, is based on the principle of equality and collective decision-making that the deputies of 1789 fought to establish.
Important Questions
The Estates-General was the old, medieval representative body where the three social classes met separately and voted by order (one vote per Estate). This guaranteed the privileged First and Second Estates could always outvote the larger Third Estate. The National Assembly was the new body proclaimed by the Third Estate, which claimed to represent the entire nation (all French people) and voted as a single assembly where each deputy had one vote.
The Tennis Court Oath was significant because it was a public, collective vow by the members of the National Assembly not to disband until they had written a constitution for France. It transformed their protest from a simple demand for fair voting into a concrete, unbreakable promise to create a new system of government based on written rules (a constitution), thereby limiting the King's absolute power.
Before the National Assembly, political power (sovereignty) was believed to come from God and was held absolutely by the King ("divine right of kings"). By declaring itself the representative of the nation and writing a constitution, the National Assembly fundamentally changed this. It established that sovereignty resides in the nation—the collective body of the people. The government's power was now seen as coming from the people, to be exercised according to the laws they consented to.
Footnote
1 Estates-General (États Généraux): The traditional representative assembly of the three estates of the French realm, called by the King in times of crisis.
2 Ancien Régime: The French term for the "Old Order," the political and social system of France before the Revolution of 1789, characterized by absolute monarchy and feudal privileges.
3 Popular Sovereignty: The principle that the authority of a state and its government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives.
4 Tithe (Dîme): A tax-like contribution to the Church, typically one-tenth of a person's annual produce or earnings.
5 Bourgeoisie: The urban middle class in French society, including merchants, bankers, lawyers, doctors, and officials. They were wealthier members of the Third Estate.
6 Taille: The main direct tax in pre-revolutionary France, paid almost exclusively by the Third Estate.
7 Gabelle: The very unpopular tax on salt in pre-revolutionary France.