The Destruction of the Ancien Régime

The Great Fear sweeping rural France in late July 1789 accelerated revolutionary transformation. Peasants, believing aristocratic plots threatened their harvests, attacked châteaux and burned feudal documents. This rural revolution forced the Assembly's hand. The Night of August 4, beginning with noble gestures to calm peasants, became competitive renunciation as deputies abolished privileges, tithes, venal offices, and provincial distinctions. By dawn, the ancien régime's legal framework had vanished in enthusiastic self-destruction.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (August 26) provided revolutionary ideology. Its principles—natural rights, popular sovereignty, legal equality—contradicted every aspect of traditional monarchy. The assertion that "men are born and remain free and equal in rights" challenged hierarchy's legitimacy. The location of sovereignty in the nation denied royal absolutism. Religious tolerance undermined Catholicism's monopoly. These principles, once proclaimed, could not be constrained to moderate applications.

The October Days demonstrated revolutionary dynamics exceeding all control. Market women, protesting bread shortages, marched to Versailles demanding royal action. The National Guard under Lafayette followed, nominally to maintain order. The invasion of royal apartments, the near-murder of Marie Antoinette, and the forced relocation to Paris showed monarchy's captivity. The king residing in the Tuileries, surrounded by revolutionary Paris rather than loyal Versailles, symbolized fundamental transformation.

Constitutional monarchy emerged as the attempted compromise between revolution and tradition. The Constitution of 1791 created a limited monarchy with separated powers, elected legislature, and rights guarantees. The king retained executive power and suspensive veto but lost legislative initiative and absolute veto. This system, influenced by American precedents and Enlightenment theory, required good faith cooperation between king and Assembly. Such cooperation proved impossible given royal reluctance and revolutionary suspicion.