French legislative election, 1791
French legislative election, 1791
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29 August and 5 September 1791 |
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Composition of the Legislative Assembly |
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French legislative elections were held in September 1791 to elect the Legislative Assembly and was the first ever French election. However, only citizens paying taxes were allowed to vote. A plurality of the elected candidates were independents, but almost all were affiliated with the three political factions emerging in the new legislatve assembly; the Marais, the Feuillants and the Jacobins (Montagnards, since they occupied the most elevated in the assembly). The factions were only vaguely affiliated to an organized program. The Feuillants did, however, support a constitutional monarchy, the Girondists a moderate republican policy and the Cordeliers a radical democratic constitution, supported by the lower classes. These factions predeceded the later dominant factions: the Jacobin, the Girondists and the Marais party, consisting mainly of moderates.
Results
Sources