1790–1791: Constitutional Monarchy

The period from 1790 to 1791 saw the National Assembly attempt to build a constitutional monarchy on the ruins of the old regime. It was a time of ambitious reform but also of deepening divisions — between revolutionaries and royalists, between Paris and the provinces, and between the Revolution and the Catholic Church.

Reorganizing France

The National Assembly undertook a sweeping reorganization of French administration. The old patchwork of provinces, each with its own laws and privileges, was replaced by 83 départements of roughly equal size, each subdivided into districts, cantons, and communes. This rational administrative structure, designed to break regional loyalties and create uniform governance, survives largely intact today.

The Assembly also reformed the judicial system, abolishing the old parlements and establishing elected judges and jury trials. Lettres de cachet — royal orders for arbitrary imprisonment — were eliminated. Internal customs barriers and tolls were removed, creating a true national market for the first time.

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (July 12, 1790)

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was one of the Revolution’s most consequential and divisive acts. It reorganized the Catholic Church in France as a department of the state: bishops and priests would be elected by local voters (including non-Catholics), paid by the state, and required to swear an oath of loyalty to the nation.

Pope Pius VI condemned the Civil Constitution in March 1791, forcing clergy to choose between their faith and the Revolution. Roughly half the clergy — the “refractory” or “non-juring” priests — refused the oath. This created a deep religious schism that pushed many devout Catholics, especially in western and southern France, into active counter-revolution.

The clerical oath became a litmus test for revolutionary loyalty and a source of lasting bitterness. It was arguably the Revolution’s single greatest political miscalculation, turning millions of previously sympathetic French people into enemies of the new order.

The Fête de la Fédération (July 14, 1790)

On the first anniversary of the Bastille’s fall, Paris hosted the Fête de la Fédération on the Champ de Mars. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered — delegates from every département, National Guard units, citizens — to celebrate national unity. Louis XVI swore an oath to uphold the constitution, and Lafayette administered the same oath to the assembled crowd.

The Fête represented the Revolution’s optimistic phase: a vision of a reformed France united under a constitutional monarch, with liberty and law replacing privilege and arbitrary power. It was the last moment of broad revolutionary consensus.

The Flight to Varennes (June 20–21, 1791)

On the night of June 20, 1791, Louis XVI and his family secretly left Paris in disguise, heading for the fortress town of Montmédy near the Austrian border. The plan was to reach loyal troops, repudiate the Revolution from a position of strength, and possibly call on Austrian military support (Marie Antoinette’s brother was Emperor Leopold II).

The royal family was recognized at Sainte-Menehould by postmaster Jean-Baptiste Drouet and arrested at Varennes, about 30 miles from the border. They were escorted back to Paris under guard, arriving to hostile silence from crowds that had been ordered not to remove their hats or show any sign of respect.

The flight to Varennes shattered the fiction of a willing constitutional monarch. Republicans began openly calling for the abolition of the monarchy. Though the Assembly officially maintained the pretense that the king had been “kidnapped,” his credibility was destroyed. The event radicalized the Revolution and made the establishment of a republic increasingly likely.

The Constitution of 1791

Despite the Varennes crisis, the National Assembly completed France’s first written constitution, which Louis XVI reluctantly accepted on September 14, 1791. It established a constitutional monarchy with a clear separation of powers:

• Legislative power resided in a unicameral Legislative Assembly of 745 members, elected by a complex system of indirect, property-based suffrage. Only “active citizens” — men who paid taxes equivalent to three days’ labor — could vote for electors, who in turn chose deputies.
• Executive power remained with the king, who appointed ministers, commanded the armed forces, and could delay (but not permanently block) legislation through a suspensory veto.
• Judicial power was exercised by elected judges independent of the other branches.

The constitution’s property qualifications excluded most of the population from political participation. Out of roughly 28 million French people, only about 4.3 million qualified as active citizens, and only about 50,000 were wealthy enough to serve as electors. This restriction antagonized radicals like Robespierre who demanded universal male suffrage.

The Champ de Mars Massacre (July 17, 1791)

On July 17, 1791, a crowd gathered on the Champ de Mars to sign a petition demanding the king’s abdication or a referendum on the monarchy. Lafayette and the National Guard, under orders from the Assembly, fired on the crowd, killing between 12 and 50 people.

The massacre marked a critical turning point: the first time the Revolution turned its violence against its own supporters. It split the revolutionary movement between moderates (who controlled the Assembly and wanted to preserve the constitutional monarchy) and radicals (grouped around the Cordeliers and Jacobin clubs, who increasingly demanded a republic). This fracture would deepen in 1792 and ultimately lead to the Terror.