ASSEMBLY, NATIONAL ( France) .• The States-General (q.v.), convoked by Louis XVI. of France, and opened May 5, 1789, consisted of the two privileged orders, the clergy and the nobles, and of the ticrs-etat, or commons. The Third Estate, composed of representatives from the towns and rural communities, outnumbered the other orders, and demanded that the voting should be by heads, in united assembly, and not by orders sitting separately. Upon the refusal of the privileged orders to concede this demand the Third Estate, on June 17, assumed the title of Asscinblee Nationale, and the right to act in the name of France. The court attempted to annul this resolution in a royal sitting, June 23, but the deputies of the Third Estate, together with the liberal members of the other two orders, had bound themselves three days before by the so-called Oath of the Tennis Court not to sepa rate until they had given France a constitu tion, and declared every attempt at violence on the part of the court treason. The King yielded, commanding the nobles and clergy to join the National Assembly. The Revolution had begun. The Assembly proceeded with astounding rapid ity to metamorphose old France. Feudal rights and hereditary privileges were abolished on Au gust 4, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man followed. In February, 1790, succession by primo geniture was abolished; in March, lettres de cachet and the oppressive salt tax were abol ished; in June all orders and talcs of nobility were annulled. In July the civil constitution of the clergy was decreed; at the same time non Catholics were reinvested with the property for feited by their ancestors on account of their faith; Jews were relieved from personal taxa tion, and the game-laws done away with. In September the Parliaments were suppressed. A decree of October 18 abolished the cruel criminal penalties of Louis XIV. In January, 1791, all corporations and guilds were abolished and free trade introduced. In February political rights were conceded to Quakers. In September all citizens, of whatever color or religion, received political rights.
The principles on which the Assembly pro ceeded were the sovereignty of the people, the limitation of the royal power through a condi tional veto (q.v.), the separation of the legisla tive and the executive powers, and the responsi bility of ministers. Accordingly, the Assembly,
shortly after it was constituted, declared that to it alone, subject to the royal veto, belonged the legislative power. Several decrees in Sep tember, 1730, determined that the legislative body should form only one chamber, and should be renewed every two years; other decrees de clared that the King was inviolable and the throne inalienable. A decree of November 7 for bade the deputies to undertake the place of min isters; and in December the new organization of the communes was begun. In January, 1790, France was divided into departments; in April trial by jury was introduced ; in May it was declared that the right of war and peace be longed to the nation alone—that is, to the As sembly.
The financial reforms were equally sweeping. It was decreed at the outset that taxes were to be apportioned and raised without regard to person. A decree of November. 1789, ordered the publication of the public accounts; another in December established a national bank. In December, 1789, appeared a law sanctioning the issue of 400,000,000 francs' worth of assignats (q.v.), treasury notes based on the security of the public domain, and in April, 1790, a second decree made the assig,nats legal tender.
These measures were followed in the begin ning of 1791 by a series of laws regarding coin age, taxation. the encouragement of industry and the management of the revenue. Catholicism ceased to be the State religion, tithes were abol ished, and Church property was confiscated. Church ornaments and valuables were appropri ated as patriotic gifts to the State: the civil jurisdiction of the bishops was taken away, and monks and nuns were freed from their vows. 'Under the civil eonstitution of the clergy each department was constituted a see, and the civil authorities controlled and paid bishops and curi;s. All the clergy were amenable to the civil courts, without appeal to the l'ope, or the inter ference of any ecclesiastical authority whatever. Every clergyman had to take an oath accepting this eonstitution—a measure which led to the emigration of very many, and subsequently to enactments of excessive rigor against refractory priests (prctres inscrmenes).