1791
The public is now welcome to attend Jacobin Club debates and oratory sessions.
March 10: Pope Pius VI condemns the Constituent National Assembly’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.
June 20-25: The royal family attempts to flee France, but they are arrested at Varennes and returned to Paris.
Potrait of Emperor Leopold II
July 6: The Emperor Leopold II appeals to international royalty to join him in upholding Louis XVI’s status and liberty.
July 17: The Massacre of the Champ-de-Mars kills about fifty after violence erupts over whether France should be a constitutional monarchy or a republic.
August 27: Austrian and Prussian rulers decide to halt the French Revolution and insist that England participate. This is known as The Declaration of Pillnitz.
Proclamation of the French Constitution
September 3: The Constituent National Assembly introduces The Constitution of 1791, which upholds tenets from the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen".
September 18: Louis XVI swears to uphold the new constitution; his power is restored.
September 27: The National Assembly grants all French Jews full citizenship.
Louis XVI swearing an oath on the Constitution
September 30: The Constituent National Assembly holds its last session, legalizing a constitutional monarchy and a unicameral legislature.
The Girondins (generally more supportive of the monarchy than the Jacobins) take control of the Legislative Assembly in late 1791.
The Assembly considers declaring war on countries allied against the Revolution. Girondin Jacques Pierre Brissot urges war. Jacobin Maximilien Robespierre argues against it, fearing that it will slow the Revolution. Many believe Girondins favor war because military defeat would end the Revolution.
