Question

How did France become a Constitutional monarchy?

Answer 1

HintA Constitutional monarchy is a form of government where the monarch shares his power with a constitutionally formed government. In this system, the powers of the monarch are bound by the constitution. France became a Constitutional monarchy on 3rd September 1791.

Complete step by step answer
The National assembly completed drafting the constitution in 1791 under the leadership of Mirabeau and Sieyes. There was a system of separation of powers. Powers were divided among the legislature, executive, and judiciary. The king was the head of the assembly but powers were now not concentrated in his hands but were shared among the members of the assembly. This ensured that the decisions were in favour of the people.
National assembly:
The national assembly was elected by the active citizens. Active citizens were the men above the age of 25 years who paid regular taxes and there were also passive members which included the rest of the population. Among the passive members, the ones who were among the top 50000 taxpayers elected the members of the assembly. The assembly was constituted of 745 members and few among them were made ministers along with the monarch as their head.

Additional informationThe demand for the establishment of constitutional monarchy came during a meeting of estates general in 1789. King Louis XVI had called this meeting for the proposal of a new tax system.
During the meeting, all states were given equal voting rights despite the fact that the third state had more members than the other two. The third state demanded two votes to which the king denied and thus they decided to form a national assembly and establish a constitutionally formed government.

NoteIn 1791 a declaration of rights of man and citizens was made which were also known as natural and inalienable rights. This meant that it was the responsibility of the government to protect these rights of citizens.