ABSTRACT
Although the status of laws passed by the Constituent Assembly (1789-91) was not entirely clear, since the King was often reluctant to sign them, they were nevertheless accepted as binding by the people of France as soon as they were agreed by the Assembly. First steps towards a constitution were taken in September 1789, when the King lost the right to prorogue or dismiss future assemblies; the King’s veto was declared to be suspensive rather than absolute, and, from October, his title was to be ‘King of the French’ not ‘of France’. He was not stripped of all his powers, however. Partly thanks to the arguments of Mirabeau, the King’s right to declare war was confirmed in March 1790.
