Glossary of The French Revolution - Governmental Structures

Governmental Structures

In roughly chronological order:

• The ancien régime – The absolute monarchy under the Bourbon kings, generally considered to end some time between the meeting of the Estates-General on 5 May, 1789, and the liberal monarchical constitution of 6 October, 1789.
• Parlements – Royal Law courts in Paris and most provinces under the ancien régime.
• The Estates-General, also known as States-General (Etats-Généraux) – The traditional tricameral legislature of the ancien régime, which had fallen into disuse since 1614. The convention of the Estates-General of 1789 is one of the events that led to the French Revolution. The Estates General, as such, met 5–6 May, 1789, but reached an impasse because the Third Estate refused to continue to participate in this structure. The other two estates continued to meet in this form for several more weeks.
• The Communes – The body formed 11 May, 1789, by the Third Estate after seceding from the Estates General. On 12 June, 1789, the Communes invited the other orders to join them: some clergy did so the following day.
• The National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) – Declared 17 June, 1789, by the Communes. The clergy joined them June 19. This was soon reconstituted as...
• The National Constituent Assembly (Assemblée nationale constituante); also loosely referred to as the National Assembly – From 9 July, 1789 to 30 September, 1791, this was both the governing and the constitution–drafting body of France. It dissolved itself in favour of:
• The Legislative Assembly (Assemblée Legislative) – From 1 October, 1791, to September 1792, the Legislative Assembly, elected by voters with property qualifications, governed France under a constitutional monarchy, but with the removal of the king's veto power on 11 July, 1792, was a republic in all but name, and became even more so after the subsequent arrest of the Royal Family.
• The Paris Commune – During the waning days of the Legislative Assembly and the fall of the Monarchy, the municipal government of Paris functioned, at times, in the capacity of a national government, as a rival, a goad, or a bully to the Legislative Assembly.
  • Further, the Sections were directly democratic mass assemblies in Paris during the first four years of the Revolution.
• The Provisional Executive Committee – Headed by Georges Danton, this also functioned in August–September 1792 as a rival claimant to national power.
• The National Convention, or simply The Convention – First met 20 September, 1792; two days later, declared a republic. The National Convention after the fall of the Montagnards (27 July, 1794) is sometimes referred to as the "Thermidorian Convention". Three committees of the National Convention are particularly worthy of note:
  • The Committee of Public Safety (Comité de salut public) – During the Reign of Terror, this committee was effectively the government of France. After the fall of the Montagnards, the committee continued, but with reduced powers.
  • The Committee of General Security (Comité de sûreté générale) – Coordinated the War effort.
  • The Committee of Education (Comité de l'instruction)
  • The Revolutionary Tribunal (Tribunal révolutionaire) instituted in March–October 1793 to prosecute all threats to the revolutionary republic, was the effective agent of the Comité de Salut Public's reign of terror in Paris until its dissolution on 31 May, 1795.
• The Directory (Directoire) – From 22 August, 1795, the Convention was replaced by the Directory, a bicameral legislature that more or less institutionalized the dominance of the bourgeoisie while also enacting a major land reform that was henceforward to place the peasants firmly on the political right. The rightward move was so strong that monarchists actually won the election of 1797 but were stopped from taking power by the coup of 18 Fructidor (4 September, 1797), the first time Napoleon played a direct role in government. The Directory continued (politically quite far to the left of its earlier self) until Napoleon took power in his own right, 9 November, 1799 (or 18 Brumaire), the date that is generally counted as the end of the French Revolution. The Directory itself was the highest executive organ, comprising five Directors, chosen by the Ancients out of a list elected by the Five Hundred; its legislative was bicameral, consisting of:
  • The Council of Five Hundred (Conseil des Cinq-Cents), or simply the Five Hundred.
  • The Council of Ancients (Conseil des Anciens), or simply the Ancients or the Senate.
• The Consulate (Consulat) – The period of the Consulate (December 1799 – December 1804) is only ambiguously part of the revolutionary era. The government was led by three individuals known as Consuls. From the start, Napoleon Bonaparte served as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the Republic. In May 1802, a plebiscite made Bonaparte First Consul for Life. In May 1804 the Empire was declared, bringing the Revolutionary era to a yet more definitive end.
• The tribunat was one of the legislative chambers instituted by the Constitution of year VIII, composed of 100 members nominated by the Senate to discuss the legislative initiatives defended by the government's Orateurs in the presence of the Corps législatif; abolished in 1807