Feuillants

(noun)

A political group that emerged during the French Revolution and consisted of monarchists and reactionaries who sat on the right of the Legislative Assembly of 1791. It came into existence when the left-wing Jacobins split between moderates, who sought to preserve the position of the king and supported the proposed plan of the National Assembly for a constitutional monarchy, and radicals (Jacobins), who wished to press for a continuation of direct democratic action to overthrow Louis XVI.

Related Terms

Examples of Feuillants in the following topics:

  • Politics within the Revolutionaries

    • Over the course of the Revolution, the Jacobins - the original revolutionary movement - split into more and less radical factions, the most important of which were the Feuillants (moderate; pro-royal), the Montagnards (radical) and the Girondins (moderate; pro-republic).
    • The rightists within the assembly consisted of about 260 Feuillants, whose chief leaders, Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette and Antoine Barnave, remained outside the House, because of their ineligibility for re-election.
    • Some historians dispute these numbers and estimate that the Legislative Assembly consisted of about 165 Feuillants (the Right), about 330 Jacobins (including Girondins; the Left), and about 350 deputies, who did not belong to any definite party but voted most often with the Left.
    • The Feuillants came into existence when the Jacobins split between moderates (Feuillants), who sought to preserve the position of the king and supported the proposed plan of the National Assembly for a constitutional monarchy, and radicals (Jacobins), who wished to press for a continuation of direct democratic action to overthrow Louis XVI.

  • The Legislative Assembly

    • The rightists within the assembly consisted of about 260 Feuillants (constitutional monarchists), whose chief leaders, Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette and Antoine Barnave, remained outside the Assembly, because of their ineligibility for re-election.
    • Some historians dispute these numbers and estimate that the Legislative Assembly consisted of about 165 Feuillants (the Right), about 330 Jacobins (including Girondins; the Left), and about 350 deputies, who did not belong to any definite party but voted most often with the Left.
    • When the king formed a new cabinet mostly of Feuillants, this widened the breach between the king on the one hand and the Assembly and the majority of the common people of Paris on the other.
    • The members of the first group were conservative members of the bourgeoisie (wealthy middle class in the Third Estate) that favored a constitutional monarchy, represented by the Feuillants, who felt that the revolution had already achieved its goal.

  • Foreign Intervention

    • The King, many of the Feuillants, and the Girondins wanted to wage war.
    • Louis XVI (and many Feuillants with him) expected war would increase his personal popularity.
    • Some Feuillants believed France had little chance to win, which they feared might lead to greater radicalization of the revolution.

  • The Constitution of 1791

    • The result was the rise of the Feuillants, a new political faction led by Antoine Barnave, one of the Committee's members who used his position to preserve a number of powers of the Crown, including the nomination of ambassadors, military leaders, and ministers.