Question

What grievances do the members of the National Assembly have according to M. Mounier?

Answer 1

The National Assembly's grievances centered around social injustice, government neglect, and corruption, leading to the adoption of the Declaration of Rights of Man and the creation of a new constitution and the National Convention to establish fundamental rights and reduce the monarchy's power.

Step-by-step explanation:

The grievances of the National Assembly, particularly emphasized by figures like M. Mounier, shed light on the profound issues of social injustice, government neglect, and corruption that aggravated the populace in France. Rooted in Enlightenment ideals, the Assembly drafted the Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen to declare fundamental rights, including the equality of all male citizens before the law, freedom of religion, and fair taxation based on one's ability to pay.

The Assembly then crafted a new constitution in 1791, focused on diminishing monarchical power and supporting a constitutional monarchy with a representative government and equal rights under the Declaration. They addressed further grievances: the need for natural rights like liberty and property, the establishment of a sovereign nation rather than a king, and freedoms of speech, press, religion, and assembly.

The National Assembly took significant steps during this period such as seizing lands of the Catholic Church to bolster the economy, convening as the National Convention, suspending the king, and dealing with conflicting factions within the revolution such as the Girondins and the Jacobins. The eventual path led to the establishment of universal manhood suffrage and a popularly elected president within a new constitution, and the conviction of Louis XVI for treason, highlighting the extreme measures the Assembly advocated to achieve their goals in the face of resistance from the monarchy.

Various political clubs and organizations presented divergent views on the revolution's objectives, particularly the Jacobins, through which internal conflict between radical and moderate elements such as the Girondins and the Mountain was evident. These internal conflicts reflect the complexity of the revolutionary process and the diversity of visions for the new French society.

Answer 2

Answer: The free blacks and mulattos, many of them substantial property owners and slaveholders, sent delegates to the National Assembly in France with a list of their stated grievances and demands. This list of grievances—modeled on those sent from the various districts of France in the spring of 1789—demonstrates the power of the idea of rights but also the particular concerns of those living in the colonies; the free blacks wanted freedom and rights for themselves but assume the continuance of slavery.