The Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly first sat on October 1st 1791. With the clerics and nobles of the National Assembly almost all gone the new legislature was dominated by bourgeois lawyers who had risen to local political prominence during the early days of the revolution. The Assembly faced two immediate problems. The first was the widespread refusal of the refractory priests to conform: around half had refused to take the oath, a figure which in the Vendee area of France rose to nine in every ten.
The second were the actions of the émigrés, the nobles who had fled France and were agitating for action against the new order by Europe’s monarchs. There was widespread concern in France that the émigrés would return at the head of foreign armies, a fear only enforced by the Declaration of Pullnitz on August 24th 1791 by Austria and Prussia. This stated that the fate of the King of France was a matter of shared interest among European monarchs.
The king wasn't initially a problem; he had begun integrating back into the new regime after his flight. This was largely due to the members of the Feuillant club who hoped to build a stable France around the monarch and worked with him on speeches and decisions. The Feuillants were initially successful, their numbers swelling far more than the rival Jacobins as the Assembly’s new delegates arrived in Paris. However, the Feuillants held their meetings behind closed doors, in sharp contrast to the republican leaning Jacobins who welcomed the public in. Reputations could be made and lost in public debate and the ambitious orators of the era joined the Jacobins. After a while Feuillant numbers declined.
The 'honeymoon' period between the king and Legislative Assembly didn’t last long. After debate began in the Jacobin club the Assembly passed a decree against the émigrés, stating that all Frenchmen abroad were suspected of plotting against the nation and that they should return by January 1st 1792 or be tried for capital crimes. In addition all their revenues were seized. However, on November 11th 1791 the king refused to pass the decree. He had the right to do this, using the veto he’d been given under the terms of the new constitution and he issued a statement drafted by Feuillants arguing for persuasion instead of threats to the émigrés. This only deepened suspicions that the king secretly supported the émigrés and Austrian 'intervention'.
Further problems arose over a decree aimed at the refractories. On November 29th it was ruled that all non-jurors had to take a new civic oath. Those who refused were to be denied the pension they'd been given after refusing the previous oath, creating a class of 'double refractories'. The King vetoed this on December 19th.
The Path to War
The king rescued some of the goodwill he had lost over émigrés and refractories when he passed a call to threaten the electors of Trier and Mainz with war if they didn't expel the émigrés from their lands. The king liked the idea of war because it might cause successful Austrian armies to march in and rescue him, while the Assembly wanted war to crush the émigrés and their power bases. Indeed, large sections of French society were in favour of war. Many hoped to break the unpopular alliance with Austria and ‘teach them a lesson’, others wanted a war to deter foreign interference in French affairs. Military leaders hoped it would bring new life to an army decimated by the many absences in its officer corps caused by them fleeing abroad; some hoped a military dictatorship might follow. Some Assembly members wanted a war so they could identify and punish traitors, in particular counter revolutionaries and refractories. Hopes were high that war would unite France.
As the nation readied itself for war the electors of Mainz and Trier caved in and expelled the émigrés. For the Jacobins and their most vocal pro-war members, in particular Brissot – who described an alliance of old regime monarchs ready to crush the revolution – this wasn’t enough. So many had decided that war was the right way forward that the king was heavily petitioned to threaten war with Austria unless they publicly declared peace with France. The king, still hoping for a war which would aid him, agreed and on April 20th 1792 Louis XVI announced that France was at war with Austria. He promised a defensive war, not one of conquest or domination, but of free peoples against aggressive enemies. Europe wide conflict followed.
The Sansculottes.
The Revolutionary War would radicalise the revolution, but for the first few weeks France and the Legislative Assembly seemed united. It was during this period that the Guillotine, the greatest physical symbol of the revolution, was first used. However the war swiftly began to go wrong and initial defeats led everyone to blame everyone else. Paranoid and reactionary laws were passed, such as on May 18th when all foreigners in Paris were put under surveillance. No one was allowed to leave the city without written permission. The king also began vetoing more legislation and sacking ministers who criticised him, including Brissot and a group called the Girondins.
These events further inflamed the sectional assemblies of Paris who were already frantic over food shortages. On June 20th between ten and twenty thousand armed protestors marched to the Tuileries in protest, declaring that they were 'sans culottes', ordinary patriots without noble clothing. They marched right into the kings chambers and filed past him for two hours making demands. The king refused them all.
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