Which Metal Alloys Used for Euro Coins ?

On January 1st, 2002 the euro became the single legal currency in twelve European countries; since that date, several other nations have also joined the European monetary union, and have adopted the euro as their official currency. Euro coins are minted in eight different denominations: 2 and 1 euros, as well as 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, and 1 cent euros. Each coin has a common design on one face, whereas the reverse face design is one of several chosen by the monetary union countries. 

In deciding which metal alloys to use for these coins, a number of issues were considered; most of them centered on material properties.

1. The ability to distinguish a coin of one denomination from that of another denomination is important. This may be accomplished by having coins of different sizes, different colors, and different shapes. With regard to color, alloys must be chosen that retain their distinctive colors, which means that they do not easily tarnish in the air and other commonly encountered environments.

2. Security is an important issue—that is, producing coins that are difficult to counterfeit. Most vending machines use electrical conductivity to identify coins, to prevent false coins from being used. This means that each coin must have its own unique “electronic signature,” which depends on its alloy composition.

3. The alloys chosen must be “coinable” or easy to mint—that is, sufficiently soft and ductile to allow design reliefs to be stamped into the coin surfaces.

4. Also, the alloys must be wear resistant (i.e., hard and strong) for long-term use, and so that the reliefs stamped into the coin surfaces are retained. Of course, strain-hardening occurs during the stamping operation which enhances hardness.

5. High degrees of corrosion resistance in common environments are required for the alloys selected, to ensure minimal material losses over the lifetimes of the coins.

6. It is highly desirable to use alloys of a base metal (or metals) that retains (retain) its (their) intrinsic value(s).

7. Alloy recyclability is another requirement for the alloy(s) used.

8. The alloy(s) from which the coins are made should also provide for human health—that is, have antibacterial characteristics so undesirable microorganisms will not grow on their surfaces.

Copper was selected as the base metal for all euro coins, inasmuch as it and its alloys satisfy the above criteria. Several different copper alloys and alloy combinations are used for the eight different coins. These are as follows:

Value	Image (2007 - present)	Main Colour		Secondary Colour		Diameter (mm)	Thickness (mm)	Mass (g)	Shape	Composition	Edge
€0.01			Bronze		None	16.25	1.67	2.30	Round	Copper-covered steel	Smooth
€0.02			Bronze		None	18.75	1.67	3.06	Round	Copper-covered steel	Smooth with a groove
€0.05			Bronze		None	21.25	1.67	3.92	Round	Copper-covered steel	Smooth
€0.10			Gold		None	19.75	1.93	4.10	Round	Nordic gold	Shaped edge with fine scallops
€0.20			Gold		None	22.25	2.14	5.74	Spanish flower	Nordic gold	Plain
€0.50			Gold		None	24.25	2.38	7.80	Round	Nordic gold	Shaped edge with fine scallops
€1.00			Silver		Gold	23.25	2.33	7.50	Round	Outer part: nickel brass Inner part: Layers of copper-nickel, nickel, copper-nickel	Interrupted milled
€2.00			Gold		Silver	25.75	2.20	8.50	Round	Outer part: copper-nickel Inner part: Layers of nickel brass, nickel, nickel brass.	Edge lettering, fine milled

2 euro coin: This coin is termed “bimetallic”—it consists of an outer ring and an inner disk. For the outer ring, a 75%Cu–25%Ni alloy is used, which has a silver color. The inner disk is composed of a three-layer structure—high-purity nickel that is clad on both sides with a nickel brass alloy (75%Cu–20%Zn–5%Ni); this alloy has a gold color.

1 euro coin: This coin is also bimetallic, whereas the alloys used for its outer ring and inner disk are reversed from those for the 2 euro.

50, 20, and 10 euro cent pieces: These coins are made of a “Nordic Gold”alloy—89%Cu– 5%Al–5%Zn–1%Sn.

5, 2, and 1 euro cent pieces: Copper-plated steels are used for these coins.

Reference:

http://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/coins/common/html/index.en.html

Book: Materials Science and Engineering William D. Callister, Jr

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA: Fundamental Duties and Fundamental Rights of Citizen

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

Part IV A (Article 51 A)

Fundamental Duties

Fundamental Duties – It shall be the duty of every citizen of India —

(a) To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National

Flag and the National Anthem;

(b) To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for

freedom;

(c) To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;

(d)To defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so;

(e) To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people

of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to

renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;

(f) To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;

(g) To protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers,

wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures;

(h) To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform;

(i)To safeguard public property and to abjure violence;

(j) To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so

that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement;

(k)Who is a parent or guardian, to provide opportunities for education to his child or,

as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years.

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

Part III (Articles 12 – 35)

(Subject to certain conditions, some exceptions

and reasonable restrictions)

guarantees these

Fundamental Rights

Right to Equality

• before law and equal protection of laws;

• irrespective of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth;

• of opportunity in public employment;

• by abolition of untouchability and titles.

Right to Freedom

• of expression, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession;

• of certain protections in respect of conviction for offences;

• of protection of life and personal liberty;

• of free and compulsory education for children between the age of six and fourteen years;

• of protection against arrest and detention in certain cases.

Right against Exploitation

• for prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour;

• for prohibition of employment of children in hazardous jobs.

Right to Freedom of Religion

• freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion;

• freedom to manage religious affairs;

• freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion;

• freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in educational

institutions wholly maintained by the State.

Cultural and Educational Rights

• for protection of interests of minorities to conserve their language, script and culture;

• for minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

Right to Constitutional Remedies

• by issuance of directions or orders or writs by the Supreme Court and High

Courts for enforcement of these Fundamental Rights.

The French Revolution: The Abolition of Slavery

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One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was the abolition of slavery in the French colonies. The colonies in the Caribbean . Martinique, Guadeloupe and San Domingo-were important suppliers of commodities such as tobacco, indigo, sugar and coffee. But the reluctance of Europeans to go and work in distant and unfamiliar lands meant a shortage of labour on the plantations.

So this was met by a triangular slave trade between Europe, Africa and the Americas. The slave trade began in the seventeenth century. French merchants sailed from the ports of Bordeaux or Nantes to the African coast, where they bought slaves from local chieftains. Branded and shackled, the slaves were packed tightly into ships for the three-month long voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

There they were sold to plantation owners. The exploitation of slave labour made it possible to meet the growing demand in European markets for sugar, coffee, and indigo. Port cities like Bordeaux and Nantes owed their economic prosperity to the flourishing slave trade.

Throughout the eighteenth century there was little criticism of slavery in France. The National Assembly held long debates about whether the rights of man should be extended to all French subjects including those in the colonies. But it did not pass any laws, fearing opposition from businessmen whose incomes depended on the slave trade. It was finally the Convention which in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in the French overseas possessions. This, however, turned out to be a short-term measure: ten years later, Napoleon reintroduced slavery. Plantation owners understood their freedom as including the right to enslave African Negroes (A term used for the indigenous people of Africa south of the Sahara. It is a derogatory term not in common use any longer) in pursuit of their economic interests. Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848.

"Why are Black people enslaved? The color of people's skin only suggests a slight difference. There is no discord between day and night, the sun and the moon and between the stars and dark sky. All is varied; it is the beauty of nature. Why destroy nature's work?"

Olympe de Gouges, Reflections on Black People, 1788

Go to : 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution

https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap8a.html

The Code Noir (The Black Code)

The Code noir initially took shape in Louis XIV’s edict of 1685. Although subsequent decrees modified a few of the code’s provisions, this first document established the main lines for the policing of slavery right up to 1789. The very first article expels all Jews from the colonies; Jews played a significant but hardly dominant role in the Dutch colonies of the Caribbean region but were not allowed to own property or slaves in the French colonies. The edict also insisted that all slaves be instructed as Catholics and not as Protestants. For the most part, the code concentrated on defining the condition of slavery (passing the condition through the mother not the father) and establishing harsh controls over the conduct of those enslaved. Slaves had virtually no rights, though the code did enjoin masters to take care of the sick and old.

but masters openly and consistently broke the code, and local legislation reversed parts of it throughout the 18th century.

The French Revolution : Did Women have a Revolution?

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From the very beginning women were active participants in the events which brought about so many important changes in French society. They hoped that their involvement would pressurize the revolutionary government to introduce measures to improve their lives. Most women of the third estate had to work for a living. They worked as seamstresses or laundresses, sold flowers, fruits and vegetables at the market, or were employed as domestic servants in the houses of prosperous people. Most women did not have access to education or job training. Only daughters of nobles or wealthier members of the third estate could study at a convent, after which their families arranged a marriage for them.

Women's March on Versailles:

The Women's March on Versailles, also known as The October March, The October Days, or simply The March on Versailles, was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. The march began among women in the marketplaces of Paris who, on the morning of 5 October 1789, were near rioting over the high price and scarcity of bread. Their demonstrations quickly became intertwined with the activities of revolutionaries, who were seeking liberal political reforms and a constitutional monarchy for France. The market women and their various allies grew into a mob of thousands and, encouraged by revolutionary agitators, they ransacked the city armory for weapons and marched to the Palace of Versailles. The crowd besieged the palace and, in a dramatic and violent confrontation, they successfully pressed their demands upon King Louis XVI. The next day, the crowd compelled the king, his family, and most of the French Assembly to return with them to Paris.

These events ended the king's independence and signified the change of power and reforms about to overtake France. The march symbolized a new balance of power that displaced the ancient privileged orders of the French nobility and favored the nation's common people, collectively termed the Third Estate. Bringing together people representing sources of the Revolution in their largest numbers yet, the march on Versailles proved to be a defining moment of that Revolution.

Women After Constitution of 1791:
Women were disappointed that the Constitution of 1791 reduced them to passive citizens. They demanded the right to vote, to be elected to the Assembly and to hold political office. Only then, they felt, would their interests be represented in the new government.Working women had also to care for their families, that is, cook, fetch water, queue up for bread and look after the children. Their wages were lower than those of men. In order to discuss and voice their interests women started their own political clubs and newspapers. About sixty women.s clubs came up in different French cities. 
In 10, May, 1793, Pauline Leon and Claire Lacombe founded the society of Revolutionary Republican Women  (Société des Citoyennes Républicaines Révolutionnaires, Société des républicaines révolutionnaires), which was becoming very popular. it's members wanted stricter price controls, to drive out food hoarders, and to have the right to wear the revolutionary cap only worn by male citizens.

In the early years, the revolutionary government did introduce laws that helped improve the lives of women. Together with the creation of state schools, schooling was made compulsory for all girls. Their fathers could no longer force them into marriage against their will. Marriage was made into a contract entered into freely and registered under civil law. Divorce was made legal, and could be applied for by both women and men. Women could now train for jobs, could become artists or run small businesses.

Women.s struggle for equal political rights, however, continued. During the Reign of Terror, the new government issued laws ordering closure of women.s clubs and banning their political activities. Many prominent women were arrested and a number of them executed. Women.s movements for voting rights and equal wages continued through the next two hundred years in many countries of the world. The fight for the vote was carried out through an international suffrage movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The example of the political activities of French women during the revolutionary years was kept alive as an inspiring memory. It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote.

The life of a revolutionary woman: Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793)

Olympe de Gouges (7 May 1748 – 3 November 1793), born Marie Gouze, was a French playwright and political activist whose feminist and abolitionist writings reached a large audience.

She began her career as a playwright in the early 1780s. As political tension rose in France, Olympe de Gouges became increasingly politically engaged. She became an outspoken advocate for improving the condition of slaves in the colonies of 1788. At the same time, she began writing political pamphlets. Today she is perhaps best known as an early feminist who demanded that French women be given the same rights as French men. In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791), she challenged the practice of male authority and the notion of male–female inequality. She was executed by guillotine and condemned as a counterrevolutionary and denounced as an "unnatural" woman during the Reign of Terror for attacking the regime of the Revolutionary government and for her close relation with the Girondists.

In 1793, the Jacobin politician Chaumette sought to justify the closure of women’s clubs on the following grounds:

‘Has Nature entrusted domestic duties to men? Has she given us breasts to nurture babies?

No.

She said to Man:

Be a man. Hunting, agriculture, political duties…. that is your kingdom.

She said to Woman:

Be a woman . the things of the household, the sweet duties of motherhood . those are your tasks.

Shameless are those women, who wish to become men. Have not duties been fairly distributed?.

The French Revolution : After the fall of Jacobins, The Revolution and Everyday Life

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A Directory Rules France:

The fall of the Jacobin government allowed the wealthier middle classes to seize power. A new constitution was introduced which denied the vote to non-propertied sections of society. It provided for two elected legislative councils. These then appointed a Directory, an executive made up of five members. This was meant as a safeguard against the concentration of power in a one-man executive as under the Jacobins. However, the Directors often clashed with the legislative councils, who then sought to dismiss them. The political instability of the Directory paved the way for the rise of a military dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France. He set out to conquer neighbouring European countries, dispossessing dynasties and creating kingdoms where he placed members of his family. Napoleon saw his role as a moderniser of Europe. He introduced many laws such as the protection of private property and a uniform system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system. Initially, many saw Napoleon as a liberator who would bring freedom for the people. But soon the Napoleonic armies came to be viewed everywhere as an invading force. He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815. Many of his measures that carried the revolutionary ideas of liberty and modern laws to other parts of Europe had an impact on people long after Napoleon had left.

The Revolution and Everyday Life:

Can politics change the clothes people wear, the language they speak or the books they read? The years following 1789 in France saw many such changes in the lives of men, women and children. The revolutionary governments took it upon themselves to pass laws that would translate the ideals of liberty and equality into everyday practice. One important law that came into effect soon after the storming of the Bastille in the summer of 1789 was the abolition of censorship. In the Old Regime all written material and cultural activities . books, newspapers, plays could be published or performed only after they had been approved by the censors of the king. Now the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen proclaimed freedom of speech and expression to be a natural right. Newspapers, pamphlets, books and printed pictures flooded the towns of France from where they travelled rapidly into the countryside. They all described and discussed the events and changes taking place in France. Freedom of the press also meant that opposing views of events could be expressed. Each side sought to convince the others of its position through the medium of print. Plays, songs and festive processions attracted large numbers of people. This was one way they could grasp and identify with ideas such as liberty or justice that political philosophers wrote about at length in texts which only a handful of educated people could read.
The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French Revolution. These spread from France to the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century, where feudal systems
were abolished. Colonised peoples reworked the idea of freedom from bondage into their movements to create a sovereign nation state. Tipu Sultan and Rammohan Roy are two examples of individuals who responded to the ideas coming from revolutionary France.
Raja Rammohan Roy was one of those who was inspired by new ideas that were spreading through Europe at that time. The French Revolution and later, the July Revolution excited his imagination.
‘He could think and talk of nothing else when he heard of the July Revolution in France in 1830.
On his way to England at Cape Town he insisted on visiting frigates (warships) flying the revolutionary tri-colour flag though he had been temporarily lamed by an accident.’
Susobhan Sarkar, Notes on the Bengal Renaissance 1946.

The French Revolution : The Reign of Terror

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The period from 5 September 1793 – 28 July 1794 is referred to as the Reign of Terror. Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and punishment. All those whom he saw as being .enemies. of the republic, ex-nobles and clergy, members of other political parties, even members of his own party who did not agree with his methods, were arrested, imprisoned and then tried by a revolutionary tribunal. If the court found them ‘guilty’ they were guillotined. The guillotine is a device consisting of two poles and a blade with which a person is beheaded. It was named after DrJoseph-Ignace Guillotin who invented it.

The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with 16,594 executed by guillotine (2,639 in Paris), and another 25,000 in summary executions across France.

Robespierre’s government issued laws placing a maximum ceiling on wages and prices. Meat and bread were rationed. Peasants were forced to transport their grain to the cities and sell it at prices fixed by the government. The use of more expensive white flour was forbidden; all citizens were required to eat the pain d.égalité (equality bread), a loaf made of wholewheat. Equality was also sought to be practised through forms of speech and address. Instead of the traditional Monsieur (Sir) and Madame (Madam) all French men and women were henceforth Citoyen and Citoyenne (Citizen). Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into barracks or offices.

During the Reign of Terror, extreme efforts of de-Christianization ensued, including the imprisonment and massacre of priests and destruction of churches and religious images throughout France. An effort was made to replace the Catholic Church altogether, with civic festivals replacing religious ones. The establishment of the Cult of Reason was the final step of radical de-Christianization. These events led to a widespread disillusionment with the Revolution and to counter-rebellions across France. Locals often resisted de-Christianization by attacking revolutionary agents and hiding members of the clergy who were being hunted. Eventually, Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety were forced to denounce the campaign, replacing the Cult of Reason with the deist but still non-Christian Cult of the Supreme Being. The Concordat of 1801 between Napoleon and the Church ended the de-Christianization period and established the rules for a relationship between the Catholic Church and the French State that lasted until it was abrogated by the Third Republic via the separation of church and state on 11 December 1905. The persecution of the Church led to a counter-revolution known as the Revolt in the Vendée.

Robespierre pursued his policies so relentlessly that even his supporters began to demand moderation. 

Robespierre saw no room for mercy in his Terror, stating that "slowness of judgments is equal to impunity" and "uncertainty of punishment encourages all the guilty". Throughout his Report on the Principles of Political Morality, Robespierre assailed any stalling of action in defense of the Republic. In his thinking, there was not enough that could be done fast enough in defence against enemies at home and abroad. A staunch believer in the teachings of Rousseau, Robespierre believed that it was his duty as a public servant to push the Revolution forward, and that the only rational way to do that was to defend it on all fronts. The Report did not merely call for blood but also expounded many of the original ideas of the 1789 Revolution, such as political equality, suffrage and abolition of privileges.

On 23 May 1794, a young woman by the name of Cécile Renault attempted assassination of Robespierre. At this point, the decree of 22 Prairial (also known as law of 22 Prairial) was introduced to the public without the consultation from the Committee of General Security, which, in turn, doubled the number of executions permitted by the Committee of Public Safety.

This law permitted executions to be carried out even under simple suspicion of citizens thought to be counter-revolutionaries without extensive trials. When the Committee of Public Safety allowed this law to be passed, the Convention began to question them, out of fear that Robespierre and his allies might come after certain members of the Convention and even the Committee itself due to the excesses carried out by its on-mission representatives such as Joseph Fouché, Jean-Baptiste Carrier, Jean-Lambert Tallien, and several others.This was part of the beginning of Robespierre's downfall.

Robespierre appeared at the Convention on 26 July (8th Thermidor, year II, according to the Revolutionary calendar), and delivered a two-hour-long speech. He defended himself against charges of dictatorship and tyranny, and then proceeded to warn of a conspiracy against the Republic. Specifically, he railed against the bloody excesses he had observed during the Terror. He also implied that members of the Convention were a part of this conspiracy, though when pressed he refused to provide any names. The speech, however, alarmed members, particularly given Fouché's warnings. These members who felt that Robespierre was alluding to them tried to prevent the speech from being printed, and a bitter debate ensued until Barère forced an end to it.

Members of The Convention ordered the arrest of Robespierre, his brother Augustin, Couthon, Saint-Just, François Hanriot, and Le Bas.

Robespierre was declared an outlaw, and condemned without judicial process. The following day, 10 Thermidor (28 July 1794), he was executed with 21 of his closest associates.

The French Revolution: France Abolishes Monarchy and Becomes a Republic

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In Continuation from last post:

http://www.thoughtcrackers.blogspot.in/2015/09/france-becomes-constitutional-monarchy.html

The situation in France continued to be tense during the following years. Although Louis XVI had signed the Constitution, he entered into secret negotiations with the King of Prussia. Rulers of other neighbouring countries too were worried by the developments in France and made plans to send troops to put down the events that had been taking place there since the summer of 1789. Before this could happen, the National Assembly voted in April 1792 to declare war against Prussia and Austria. Thousands of volunteers thronged from the provinces to join the army. They saw this as a war of the people against kings and aristocracies all over Europe. 

Among the patriotic songs they sang was the Marseillaise,

composed by the poet Roget de L’Isle. It was sung for the first time by volunteers from Marseilles as they marched into Paris and so got its name. The Marseillaise is now the national anthem of France.

The revolutionary wars brought losses and economic difficulties to the people. While the men were away fighting at the front, women were left to cope with the tasks of earning a living and looking after their families. Large sections of the population were convinced that the revolution had to be carried further, as the Constitution of 1791 gave political rights only to the richer sections of society. Political clubs became an important rallying point for people who wished to discuss government policies and plan their own forms of action. 

The most successful of these clubs was that of the Jacobins, which got its name from the former convent (Building belonging to a community devoted to a religious life)of St Jacob in Paris. Women too, who had been active throughout this period, formed their own clubs. The members of the Jacobin club belonged mainly to the less prosperous sections of society. They included small shopkeepers, artisans such as shoemakers, pastry cooks, watch-makers, printers, as well as servants and daily-wage workers. 

Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre (Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre). A large group among the Jacobins decided to start wearing long striped trousers similar to those worn by dock workers. This was to set themselves apart from the fashionable sections of society, especially nobles, who wore knee breeches.

It was a way of proclaiming the end of the power wielded by the wearers of knee breeches. These Jacobins came to be known as the sans-culottes, literally meaning .those without knee breeches. Sansculottes men wore in addition the red cap that symbolised liberty. Women however were not allowed to do so.

In the summer of 1792 the Jacobins planned an insurrection of a large number of Parisians who were angered by the short supplies and high prices of food. On the morning of August 10 they stormed the Palace of the Tuileries, massacred the king’s guards and held the king himself as hostage for several hours. Later the Assembly voted to imprison the royal family. Elections were held. From now on all men of 21 years and above, regardless of wealth, got the right to vote.

The newly elected assembly was called the Convention. On 21 September 1792 it abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic. As you know, a republic is a form of government where the people elect the government including the head of the government. There is no hereditary monarchy. 

The French Revolution: France Becomes a Constitutional Monarchy

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A twelve member Constitutional Committee was convened on 14 July 1789 (coincidentally the day of the Storming of the Bastille). Its task was to do much of the drafting of the articles of the constitution. It included originally two members from the First Estate, (Champion de Cicé, Archbishop of Bordeaux and Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun); two from the Second (the comte de Clermont-Tonnerre and the marquis de Lally-Tollendal); and four from the Third (Jean Joseph Mounier, Abbé Sieyès, Nicholas Bergasse, and Isaac René Guy le Chapelier).The main controversies early on surrounded the issues of what level of power to be granted to the king of France (i.e.: veto, suspensive or absolute) and what form would the legislature take (i.e.: unicameral or bicameral). The Constitutional Committee proposed a bicameral legislature, but the motion was defeated 10 September 1789 (849-89) in favor of one house; the next day, they proposed an absolute veto, but were again defeated (673-325) in favor of a suspensive veto, which could be over-ridden by three consecutive legislatures.

A second Constitutional Committee quickly replaced it, and included Talleyrand, Abbé Sieyès, and Le Chapelier from the original group, as well as new members Gui-Jean-Baptiste Target, Jacques Guillaume Thouret, Jean-Nicolas Démeunier, François Denis Tronchet, and Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne, all of the Third Estate. Their greatest controversy faced by this new committee surrounded the issue of citizenship. Would every subject of the French Crown be given equal rights, as the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen seemed to promise, or would there be some restrictions?

Fueled by rumors of a reception for the King's bodyguards on 1 October 1789 at which the national cockade had been trampled upon, on 5 October 1789 crowds of women began to assemble at Parisian markets. The women first marched to the Hôtel de Ville, demanding that city officials address their concerns. The women were responding to the harsh economic situations they faced, especially bread shortages. They also demanded an end to royal efforts to block the National Assembly, and for the King and his administration to move to Paris as a sign of good faith in addressing the widespread poverty.

Getting unsatisfactory responses from city officials, as many as 7,000 women joined the march to Versailles, bringing with them cannons and a variety of smaller weapons. Twenty thousand National Guardsmen under the command of La Fayette responded to keep order, and members of the mob stormed the palace, killing several guards. La Fayette ultimately persuaded the king to accede to the demand of the crowd that the monarchy relocate to Paris.

On 6 October 1789, the King and the royal family moved from Versailles to Paris under the "protection" of the National Guards, thus legitimizing the National Assembly.

The National Assembly completed the draft of the constitution in 1791. After very long negotiations, the constitution was reluctantly accepted by King Louis XVI in September 1791. Its main object was to limit the powers of the monarch. These powers instead of being concentrated in the hands of one person, were now separated and assigned to different institutions, the legislature, executive and judiciary. This made France a constitutional monarchy.

The Constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws in the National Assembly, which was indirectly elected. That is, citizens voted for a group of electors, who in turn chose the Assembly. Not all citizens, however, had the right to vote. Only men above 25 years of age who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a labourer’s wage were given the status of active citizens, that is, they were entitled to vote. The remaining men and all women were classed as passive citizens. To qualify as an elector and then as a member of the Assembly, a man had to belong to the highest bracket of taxpayers.

Women, children and youth below 25 were not allowed to vote in the Constitution of 1791.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man, adopted on 27 August 1789 eventually became the preamble of the constitution adopted on 30 September 1791.

The Constitution began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Rights such as the right to life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law, were established as ‘natural and inalienable’ rights, that is, they belonged to each human being by birth and could not be taken away. It was the duty of the state to protect each citizen’s natural rights.

The resentment toward the Church weakened its power during the opening of the Estates General in May 1789. The Church composed the First Estate with 130,000 members of the clergy. When the National Assembly was later created in June 1789 by the Third Estate, the clergy voted to join them, which perpetuated the destruction of the Estates General as a governing body.The National Assembly began to enact social and economic reform. Legislation sanctioned on 4 August 1789 abolished the Church's authority to impose the tithe. In an attempt to address the financial crisis, the Assembly declared, on 2 November 1789, that the property of the Church was "at the disposal of the nation." They used this property to back a new currency, the assignats. Thus, the nation had now also taken on the responsibility of the Church, which included paying the clergy and caring for the poor, the sick and the orphaned. In December, the Assembly began to sell the lands to the highest bidder to raise revenue, effectively decreasing the value of the assignats by 25% in two years. In autumn 1789, legislation abolished monastic vows and on 13 February 1790 all religious orders were dissolved. Monks and nuns were encouraged to return to private life and a small percentage did eventually marry.

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy, passed on 12 July 1790, turned the remaining clergy into employees of the state. This established an election system for parish priests and bishops and set a pay rate for the clergy. Many Catholics objected to the election system because it effectively denied the authority of the Pope in Rome over the French Church. Eventually, in November 1790, the National Assembly began to require an oath of loyalty to the Civil Constitution from all the members of the clergy. This led to a schism between those clergy who swore the required oath and accepted the new arrangement and those who remained loyal to the Pope. Overall, 24% of the clergy nationwide took the oath. Widespread refusal led to legislation against the clergy, "forcing them into exile, deporting them forcibly, or executing them as traitors." Pope Pius VI never accepted the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, further isolating the Church in France.

The revolutionary journalist Jean-Paul Marat commented in his newspaper L‘Ami du peuple (The friend of the people) on the Constitution drafted by the National Assembly:

‘The task of representing the people has been given to the rich . the lot of the poor and oppressed will never be improved by peaceful means alone. Here we have absolute proof of how wealth influences the law. Yet laws wi ll last only as long as the people agree to obey them. And when they have managed to cast off the yoke of the aristocrats, they will do the same to the other owners of wealth..’

Dwarka