ABSTRACT
The early reforms of the Constituent Assembly changed the structure of local government. The old patchwork of ecclesiastical, royal, military and judicial units of administration which had no relation to each other were replaced and the Comité de Division based everything on the new unit, the Department. Districts and communes also had their own elected councils. The franchise was based upon the idea of active citizenship, so that men who paid the equivalent of three days’ labour in taxation had the vote, while counsellors and deputies had to pay more in taxation. Robespierre’s fears that the result would be too exclusive do not seem to have been realised, for in many rural areas 90 per cent of the men could vote although, according to Wright, only 1 per cent of the population qualified to be deputies (D.G. Wright, Revolution and Terror in France, 1789-1795, London, Longman, 1990, p. 37). No consideration was given to allowing women to vote; their role was
expected to be domestic and supportive to the politically active menfolk. These changes followed the direction started by convening of the Estates General. The King was no longer an absolute monarch, but as Forrest comments: ‘He was still King, of course, but was he sovereign?’ (A. Forrest, The French Revolution, Oxford, Blackwell, 1995, p. 36). Increasing the participation of citizens in government meant that sovereignty now lay with the nation.
