1. What was the voting system in France prior to the revolution?
Answers
Before the Revolution
France was a monarchy ruled by the king. The king had total power over the government and the people. The people of France were divided into three social classes called "estates." The First Estate was the clergy, the Second Estate was the nobles, and the Third Estate was the commoners.
French legislative elections were held in September 1791 to elect the Legislative Assembly and was the first ever French election. However, only citizens paying taxes were allowed to vote. A plurality of the elected candidates were independents, but almost all were affiliated with the three political factions emerging in the new legislative assembly; the Marais, the Feuillants and the Jacobins (Montagnards, since they occupied the most elevated in the assembly). The factions were only vaguely affiliated to an organized program. The Feuillants did, however, support a constitutional monarchy, the Girondists a moderate republican policy and the Cordeliers a radical democratic constitution, supported by the lower classes. These factions preceded the later dominant factions: the Jacobin, the Girondists and the Marais party, consisting mainly of moderates.