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In June 1793, factional disputes with the Convention resulted in the replacement of the
Girondins with the Jacobins, a far more radical group. The Jacobins and Girondins were
both liberal and bourgeois, but the Jacobins desired a centralized government (in which
they would hold key positions), Paris as the national capital, and temporary government
control of the economy. The Jacobin platform managed to win the support of the sans-culottes.
The Jacobins were tightly organized, well-disciplined and convinced that they alone were
responsible for saving and "managing" the Revolution from this point forward. On
June 22, 1793, 80,000 armed sans-culottes surrounded the meeting halls of the
National Convention and demanded the immediate arrest of the Girondin faction. The
Convention yielded to the mob and 29 Girondin members of the Convention were arrested.

The Jacobins now had firm control not only of the Convention, but the French nation as
well. They were the government. And they now had even more pressing problems: civil war
was everywhere, economic distress had not been lifted, they had to keep the sans-culottes
satisfied, they suffered continued threats of foreign invasion and the nation’s ports
had all been blockaded. They lived, dreading the possibility that if they failed, so too
would the Revolution. Only strong leadership could save the Revolution. The Committee of
Public Safety assumed leadership, in April 1793. As a branch of the National Convention
itself, the Committee of Public Safety had broad powers which included the organization of
the nation’s defenses, all foreign policy, and the supervision of ministers. The
Committee also ordered arrests and trials of counter-revolutionaries and imposed
government authority across the nation. What is amazing is that only twelve men controlled
the CPS, although the CPS was ultimately led by MAXIMILIEN
ROBESPIERRE (1758-1794).

After the
execution of Louis, the National Assembly, now known as the National
Convention, faced enormous problems. The value of paper currency (assignats) used
to finance the Revolution had fallen by 50%. There was price inflation, continued food
shortages, and various peasant rebellions against the Revolution occurred across the
countryside. France was close to civil war.

Meanwhile, the revolutionaries found themselves not only at war with Austria and
Prussia, but with Holland, Spain and Great Britain. As the Revolution stumbled under the
weight of foreign war and civil war, the revolutionary leadership grew more radical. Up to
June 1793, moderate reformers had dominated the National Convention. These were the
Girondins, men who favored a decentralized government in which the various provinces or
departments would determine their own affairs. The Girondins also opposed government
interference in the economy.

The proof necessary to convict the enemies of the
people is every kind of evidence, either material or moral or verbal or
written. . . . Every citizen has the right to seize conspirators and
counter-revolutionaries and to arraign them before magistrates. He is
required to denounce them when he knows of them.

Law of 22 Prairial Year II (June 10, 1794)

Regardless, between the October Days of 1789 and September 1791, the National Assembly
busied itself with reforms meant to dismantle the ancien regime. They accomplished
this with six basic reforms



1. the abolition of special privileges of the nobility through the legalization of equality
   (August 4, 1789)
2. they made their statement of human rights with the Declaration of the Rights of Man
   and the Citizen (August 4, 1789)
3. they subordinated Church to State. In November 1789, the National Assembly confiscated
   all Church property. And in early 1790, they passed the CIVIL
   CONSTITUTION OF THE CLERGY
   which reduced the power of the bishops. The clergy was now selected and paid by the State
4. in September 1791, the National Assembly drew up a constitution, something it had been
   trying to do since June 1789. The constitution of 1791 specified such liberal ideas as a
   limited monarchy and full equality before the law
5. the National Assembly also made every effort to replace the inefficient and
   uncoordinated provinces with 83 new administrative units nearly equal in size. A
   standardized system of courts was introduced, the sale of judicial offices was abolished,
   citizen-filled juries were introduced and torture was abolished
6. in terms of economic reforms, the National Assembly adopted a uniform system of weights
   and measures, guild restrictions were abolished and customs on goods transported within
   the country were eliminated





By the end of September 1791, the National Assembly announced that its work was done.
In many ways, the Constitution of 1791 seemed to fulfill the promises of reform which had
been first uttered by the men of 1789. All Frenchmen could now be proud that the
following rights had been secured: equality before the law, careers open to talent, a
written constitution, and parliamentary government




With this in mind, there was a sizeable faction within the National Assembly who were
so satisfied that they claimed the Revolution to be at an end, since its primary aims had
been achieved. But, revolutionary times are unpredictable.

With the
conclusion of the OCTOBER DAYS the King and the National Assembly left
Versailles for Paris. By the end of 1789, Louis had made several concessions to the
National Assembly, none of which he sincerely intended to keep. The people of Paris and
the French countryside loved their king as a child loves his father. Louis was not to
blame for the misfortunes of France, instead, his evil ministers were held responsible.
So, by bringing Louis to Paris, it was hoped he would be less influenced by his evil and
corrupt ministers. But on June 20, 1791, Louis XVI did something which earned him the
general distrust of most French subjects. He planned to raise an army and
crush the revolution. He appealed to Leopold II, the brother of Marie
Antoinette, who promised Louis Austrian troops if Louis could reach
Montmédy and mobilize a sizable French force. Louis did not intend to
leave France except as a last resort. 

At ten o'clock on the night of June 20, a berline,
or heavy coach, drawn by four horses, pulled up at the south end of the
Tuileries. At intervals until
11:30, the coach picked up members of the royal family, all of whom were
dressed in disguise -- Louis as a valet, Marie Antoinette as a children's
governess. It had been planned that as Louis passed through major cities
and towns that his troops would be nearby. If he kept on schedule, Louis
ought to arrived at Montmédy the following day. But it was not to be.
Louis began to treat this serious occasion as an excursion -- he ordered
extra stops so that he could sup on his favorite meals and on one occasion
he was recognized at Ste.-Ménéhould by an old soldier, Jean-Baptiste
Drouet.

Drouet rode ahead to the small village of Varennes and with the help of
the locals, blocked the bridge across the Meuse River. At midnight, Louis'
berline was stopped at the bridge and Louis immediately admitted
who he was. The royal party was treated to dinner and treated with utmost
respect. Of course, all the church bells began to ring and by morning,
10,000 peasants were in the streets of Varennes. Finally, at 6 A.M. on
June 22, representatives of the National Assembly arrived on the scene,
escorted by the National Guardsmen. Three day later, the royal family was
back at the Tuileries. Louis was now a prisoner of the
Revolution and an enemy of the Revolution. With the FLIGHT
TO VARENNES,
the National Assembly began to wonder just how possible a limited monarchy really was, or
if indeed it was now even necessary.

The aim of every political
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association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of
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man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to
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oppression.
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Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
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(August 26, 1789)
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Louis ordered the National Assembly to disband immediately. A Declaration sent to the
Third Estate from Louis on June 23 expressed the following demand:

The King wishes that the ancient distinction of the three Orders of
the State be preserved in its entirety, as essentially linked to the constitution of his
Kingdom; that the deputies, freely elected by each of the three Orders, forming three
chambers, deliberating by Order . . . can alone be considered as forming the body of the
representatives of the Nation. As a result, the King has declared null the resolutions
passed by the deputies of the Order of the Third Estate, the 17^th of this
month, as well as those which have followed them, as illegal and unconstitutional . . . .