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During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.
1 Background
The National Constituent Assembly dissolved itself on 30 September 1791. Upon Robespierre's motion it had decreed that none of its members should be capable of sitting in the next legislature. Its successor body, the Legislative Assembly, operating under the liberal French Constitution of 1791, did not last a year and was generally deemed a failure. It left behind an empty treasury, an undisciplined army and navy, and enormous domestic turmoil.
The Legislative Assembly entrenched the perceived left-right political spectrum that is still commonly used today.
2 Election of the Legislative Assembly
Despite a limited franchise, the elections of 1791 brought in a legislature which -- perhaps even disproportionately to the will of the country -- desired to carry the Revolution further. Prominent among this legislature were the Jacobin Club and its affiliated societies throughout France.
The Legislative Assembly first met on 1 October 1791. It consisted of 745 members, mostly from the middle class. The members were generally young, and, since none had sat in the previous Assembly, they largely lacked national political experience.
The RightIn politics, right-wing the political right or simply the right are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. It is usually, but not always, associated with conservatism. consisted of about 165 " FeuillantFeuillant a French word derived from the Latin for leaf, has been used as a tag by two different groups. The first Feuillants were monks of the Cistercian order who established an abbey in the Diocese of Rieux in 1145. The abbey was named Notre-Dame des Fs", guided chiefly by persons outside the House, because incapable of re-election. The LeftIn politics, left-wing political left leftism or simply the left are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (, generally dominant during this period, consisted of about 330 " JacobinIn the context of the French Revolution, a Jacobin originally meant a member of the Jacobin Club ( 1789- 1794). But even while the Club still existed, the name of Jacobins had been popularly applied to all promulgators of extreme revolutionary opinions.s", a term which still included the party afterwards known as the Girondins or Girondists. The Left as a whole was openly anti-émigré and anticlerical. They also generally, although often not openly, favored a republicModern republics A republic is a form of government (and a state so governed) where the head of state is not a monarch. Many times people interchangebly use republic and democracy to refer the same. the truth is that in a country where the governmental st. In these views, they were was reinforced by the less privileged classes in Paris and throughout France. The remainder of the House, about 250 deputies, generally belonged to no definite party. The king's ministers, named by him and excluded from the Assembly, are described by the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica as "mostly persons of little mark."
