What Did The Constitution Of 1791 Establish?

The French Constitution of 1791 was short-lived. It was adopted during the period in the history of France which is now known as the French Revolution. It went into effect in the month of September 1791, but due to a series of constitutional crises, it had effectively ceased to exist as the national constitution of France by the month of August the following year.

The constitution tried to set up a liberal bourgeois constitutional monarchy in France. Under this system, the unicameral legislative assembly of the country would pass legislation, but the king (the then king was Louis XVI) would retain the power of veto.

The war was about to begin and the radical and republican forces were coming to power in the assembly, hence this proved to be unworkable. The insurrection, which took place on August 10, 1792, marked the end of the monarchy. The constitution dissolved with the Paris Commune in a chaos of forces.

The French Constitution of 1791, which went into effect in the year 1791, established a liberal, bourgeois constitutional monarchy. It was maintained that the unicameral Legislative Assembly would pass legislation but the king of France, Louis XVI would retain a veto.  This constitution adopted during the French Revolution ceased to work as a national constitution by August 1792. With impending war and republican forces coming to the fore in the Assembly, the constitution proved futile. The August 10th rebellion signaled the end of the monarchy.

Here is the preamble of the constitution:

"The National Assembly, wishing to establish the French Constitution upon the principles it has just recognized and declared, [35] abolishes irrevocably the institutions which were injurious to liberty and equality of rights.

Neither nobility, nor peerage, nor hereditary distinctions, nor distinctions of orders, nor feudal regime, nor patrimonial courts, nor any titles, denominations, or prerogatives derived therefrom, nor any order of knighthood, nor any corporations or decorations requiring proofs of nobility or implying distinctions of birth, nor any superiority other than that of public functionaries in the performance of their duties any longer exists. [36]

Neither venality nor inheritance of any public office any longer exists.

Neither privilege nor exception to the law common to all Frenchmen any longer exists for any part of the nation or for any individual.

Neither jurandes nor corporations of professions, arts, and crafts any longer exist.

The law no longer recognizes religious vows or any other obligation contrary to natural rights or the Constitution."