Constitution of 1793 (France)

The Constitution of 1793 (France) was the second Constitution written and approved during the French Revolution. Passed by the National Convention on June 24, 1793, it officially created the First French Republic. The Constitution was based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, to which it added several rights, proclaiming the superiority of popular sovereignty over national sovereignty, and various economic and social rights, such as the right of association, right to work and public assistance, and the right to public education.

Background

The Constitution of 1791, which had been approved by the National Constituent Assembly, had established a constitutional monarchy in France, with Louis XVI as a figurehead. However, this constitution failed; the Brunswick Manifesto had led to the Parisian uprising of August 10th, 1792, as it exposed the French king connections with the foreign powers and counter-revolutionaries, and the king ending up in prison.

As a result, the French monarchy was abolished by the National Convention on September 21, 1792. Then they began the task of writing a new Constitution. As the Convention was composed mostly of Jacobins, Cordeliers, and Hébertists, who were republicans, the new Constitution of 1793 was a republican one, creating the First Republic. Nevertheless, it failed as a viable political solution for the chaotic France of that time; it was replaced by the Constitution of 1795, which established the French Directory, and the first bicameral legislature in French history.