From Royal Vetoes to National War
I Areas of constitutional achievement and relative consensus
A Abolition of old jurisdictions & division into departments, cantons, etc.
B Administrative decentralization & electoral principle at all levels
C Replacement of parlements by Appeals Court and elected judges at all levels
D Reform of judicial procedure (legal council, trial by jury, etc.)
E Electoral property qualifications: “active” and “passive citizens”
F King’s acceptance of constitution (National fête de la fédération,14 July 1790)
II Factors in revolutionary dynamic & growing tension between constitution and king
A Quest for unity and legacy of royal absolutism and Catholicism
1 Progressive transformation of revolutionaries into “aristocrats”
2 Formation of antithetical “parties” (Left and Right) in National Assembly
B Constitutional legacy of ideology of anti-“despotism”
1 Incompatibility of positions of minister and deputy (7 Nov. 1789)
2 Depriving king of right to declare war (22 May 1790)
C Existence or second power in Paris (electoral sections and clubs, Nat’l Guard)
D Continuing economic misery & instability, now due to inflation of assignats
E The religious issue, and king’s conflict of king’s incompatible identities
III Unsuccessful royal flight (Varennes (20-21 June 1791) & consequent divisions
A Suspension & interrogation of king (26 June) & official “explanation” of flight
B Decree of 15 July calling for king’s reinstatement after accepting constitution
C Attempt to stop Revolution by former patriots (Barnave, Duport, Le Chapelier)
1 Split between Cordeliers and Jacobin clubs over petitions
2 Cordeliers petition of 17 July 91, martial law, Champs de Mars massacre
E Conservative revision of constitution (higher electoral qualifications, etc.)
F King’s resumption of powers (13 Sept. 91) & self-denying ordinance of 16 May
IV Legislative Assembly (1 Oct. 1791) & division between Girondins & Mountain on Left
V Forward retreat into war
A Girondin offensive against refractory priests and émigré nobles
1 Decrees of 9 Nov. vs. émigrés and 20 Nov. vs. refractory priests
2 King’s veto of both of these measures
B Annexation papal enclaves of Avignon & Comtat Venaissin (14 Sept. 1791)
C Tension with Austria & Empire after Varennes:
1 European concern about French royal family: Declaration of Pilnitz, 27 Aug. 91
2 Gatherings of émigré nobles in Empire: Coblenz, Trier, Worms
3 Problem of imperial landlords & abolition of “feudal” obligations in Alsace
4 Traditional rivalry with Habsburgs & unpopularity of alliance of 1756
D Calculations of political protagonists: for Brissotins, to smoke out the traitors
VI Actual declaration of war, 20 April 1792
1 Leopold II’s conciliatory gestures & Nat’l Assembly’s ultimatums (Jan. 1792)
2 Death of Leopold II on 1 March 1792 and accession of Francis II
3 King’s Brissotin ministry (while queen sends war plans to Austria)
4 Declaration of war by Legislative Assembly (20 Apr 92) with 7 “no’s”