Editing Legislative Assembly (France) (section)

== Elections ==
The elections of 1791, held by [[Suffrage#Census suffrage|census suffrage]], brought in a legislature that desired to carry the Revolution further.
The [[Right-wing politics|rightists]] within the assembly consisted of 264 [[Feuillant (political group)|Feuillants]], whose chief leaders, [[Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette]] and [[Antoine Barnave]], remained outside the House because of their ineligibility for re-election. They were staunch constitutional monarchists, firm in their defence of the [[List of French monarchs|king]] against the popular agitation.

The [[Left-wing politics|leftists]] were of 136 [[Jacobin (politics)|Jacobins]] (still including the party later known as the [[Girondin]]s or Girondists) and [[Cordeliers]]. Its most famous leaders were [[Jacques Pierre Brissot]], the philosopher [[Condorcet]] and [[Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud]]. The Left drew its inspiration from the more radical tendency of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], regarded the émigré nobles as traitors and espoused [[anticlericalism]]. They were suspicious of [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]], some of them favoring a general European war, both to spread the new ideals of [[liberty]] and [[Social equality|equality]] and to put the king's loyalty to the test.

The remainder of the House, 345 deputies, generally belonged to no definite party. They were called The Marsh (''Le Marais'') or [[The Plain]] (''La Plaine''). They were committed to the ideals of the Revolution, hence generally inclined to side with the Left, but would also occasionally back proposals from the Right.

The king's ministers, named by him and excluded from the Assembly, are described by the [[1911 Encyclopædia Britannica|1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']] as "mostly persons of little mark".