The
primary task of the Convention, when seated in the fall of 1792, had
been to draft a new, republican constitution. Only after the purge of
the Girondins, however, did the Convention complete this task, with
what became known as the Constitution of 1793 or sometimes the "Montagnard
Constitution." Particularly notable was the commitment to political
democracy; universal manhood suffrage with no property requirements
for voting or holding office at national or municipal levels was implemented,
and the equal application of the law to all citizens was emphasized.
This constitution also required the government to ensure a "right
to subsistence," while simultaneously reiterating the inviolability
of personal property. To many, especially the Jacobins, the Constitution
of 1793 provided a model framework for an egalitarian, democratic republic;
however, owing to the ongoing war the Convention suspended constitutional
rule in October 1793 in favor of "revolutionary government . .
. until the peace."
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CONSTITUTIONAL ACT OF THE REPUBLIC
The French
Republic is one and indivisible.
ON CITIZENSHIP
The following
are admitted to exercise the rights of French citizenship:
Every man born and domiciled in France, fully twenty-one years of age;
Every foreigner, fully twenty-one years of age, who, domiciled in France
for one year:
And lives there by his labor,
Or acquires property,
Or marries a French woman,
Or adopts a child,
Or supports an elderly person;
Finally, every foreigner who is considered by the legislative body to
be deserving of being treated humanely.
The exercise
of the rights of citizenship is lost:
By naturalization in a foreign country;
By the acceptance of offices or favors emanating from a government that
is not of the people;
By sentencing with punishments that are dishonorable or strip the party
of his civil rights, until rehabilitation.
The exercise
of the rights of citizenship is suspended:
By status of indictment;
By sentencing in absentia, until such sentence is revoked.
ON POPULAR
SOVEREIGNTY
Popular
sovereignty includes all French citizens.
It directly
appoints its deputies.
It delegates
to its electors the choice of administrators, public arbiters, and judges
for criminal and appellate courts.
It deliberates
upon the law.
ON NATIONAL
REPRESENTATION
Population
is the sole basis of national representation.
There shall
be one deputy for every 40,000 individuals.
Every grouping
of the primary assemblies, with a population of between 39,000 and 41,000
inhabitants, shall directly elect one deputy.
The election
is decided by absolute majority.
Every assembly
shall count the votes, and shall send a commissioner to the most central
location for the general count.
If the
first return does not produce an absolute majority, a second roll call
shall be held, and a vote taken between the two citizens who have obtained
the most votes.
In case
of a tie, the elder shall have the choice, either to hold another vote
or to be declared the winner. In the case where both citizens are of
equal age, the decision shall be made by lot.
Every Frenchman
who enjoys the rights of citizenship is eligible throughout the entire
Republic.
Every deputy
belongs to the whole nation.
In case
of the nonacceptance, resignation, forfeiture, or death of a deputy,
the primary assemblies that elected him shall provide for his replacement.
A deputy
who has proffered his resignation may not leave his post until after
the swearing in of his successor.
The French
people shall assemble annually, on the 1st of May, to hold elections.
They shall
proceed thereto, regardless of how many citizens have the right to vote.
The primary
assemblies shall meet in extraordinary session upon the request of one-fifth
of the citizens who have the right to vote in that district.
In such
cases, the town council of the usual place of assembly shall conduct
the convocation.
Such extraordinary
sessions shall deliberate only when one-half plus one of the citizens
who have the right to vote in that district are present.
ON SESSIONS
OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY
Sessions
of the National Assembly shall be public.
The minutes
of its sessions shall be printed.
It may
only deliberate if at least 200 members are present.
Its members
must be granted permission to speak, in the order in which they requested
it.
Its decisions
shall be determined by majority vote.
ON THE
FUNCTIONS OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY
The Legislative
Body shall propose laws and render decrees.
Included
under the general title of "law" are acts of the Legislative
Body concerning:
Civil and criminal legislation;
General administration of the revenues and ordinary expenditures of
the Republic;
State property;
The standard, weight, stamp, and denomination of monies;
The nature, amount, and collection of taxes;
The declaration of war;
Every new general distribution of French territory;
Public schooling;
Public honors in memory of great men.
ON THE
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
There shall
be an Executive Council composed of twenty-four members.
The Electoral
College of each and every department shall appoint a candidate. The
Legislative Body shall select the members of the council from the general
list.
One-half
of the members shall be replaced during the final months of every legislative
session.
The council
shall be responsible for the management and supervision of the civil
administration, and may act only to execute the laws of decrees of the
Legislative Body.
It shall
appoint, from outside its own body, the executives of the civil administration
of the Republic.
ON ADMINISTRATIVE
AND MUNICIPAL BODIES
In each
and every commune of the Republic there shall be a municipal administration;
In each and every district, there shall be an intermediate administration;
In each and every department, there shall be a central administration.
The municipal
officials shall be elected by the communal assemblies.
The administrators
shall be appointed by the electoral colleges of the departments and
districts.
One-half
of the municipalities and administrations shall be renewed annually.
The administration
and municipal officials shall have no representational role.
They may
not, under any circumstances, alter the acts of the Legislative Body
nor stop their execution.
The Legislative
Body shall determine the duties of the municipal officials and administrators,
the rules governing their subordination, and the penalties they may
incur.
Sessions
of the municipalities and administrations shall be public.
ON CIVIL
JUSTICE
The code
of civil and criminal laws shall be uniform throughout the Republic.
No infringement
may be made upon the right of citizens to have arbitrators of their
own choice pass judgment on their disagreements.
The decision
of such arbitrators shall be final, unless the citizens have reserved
the right to protest.
There shall
be justices of the peace, elected by the citizens in districts determined
by law.
They shall
reconcile and judge without charge.
Their numbers
and abilities shall be regulated by the Legislative Body.
There shall
be public arbitrators elected by the electoral colleges.
ON CRIMINAL
JUSTICE
In criminal
matters citizens may be judged only upon an indictment received by juries
or decreed by the Legislative Body.
The accused
shall have council, chosen by themselves or appointed by the court.
Inquiries
shall be public.
Facts and
intents shall be declared by a trial jury.
The penalty
shall be imposed by a criminal court.
Criminal
judges shall be elected annually by the electoral colleges.
ON PUBLIC
TAXES
No citizen
is exempt from the honorable obligation of contributing to public expenses.
ON NATIONAL
CONVENTIONS
If, in
one-half of the departments plus one, one-tenth of the regularly constituted
primary assemblies requests the revision of a Constitutional Act or
the amendment of some of its articles, the Legislative Body shall be
required to convoke all the primary assemblies of the Republic to ascertain
if there are grounds for a National Convention.
ON THE
RELATIONS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC WITH FOREIGN NATIONS
The French
people are the friends and natural allies of free peoples.
They do
not interfere in the government of other nations; nor do they permit
other nations to interfere in theirs.
They give
asylum to foreigners who, in the name of liberty, are banished from
their homelands, and refuse it to tyrants.
They do
not make peace with an enemy who is occupying their territory.
ON THE
GUARANTEE OF RIGHTS
The Constitution
guarantees all Frenchmen equality, liberty, security, property, public
debt, freedom of worship, public schooling, public relief, unrestricted
freedom of the press, the right to assemble in groups, and the enjoyment
of all the rights of man.
The French
Republic respects loyalty, courage, the elderly, filial piety, and misfortune.
It entrusts its Constitution to the care of all the virtues.
The Declaration
of Rights and the Constitutional Act shall be engraved on tablets and
placed in the midst of the Legislative Body and in public places.