What's in a name? Possible names for a legislative body and the birth of national sovereignty during the French Revolution, 15–16 June 1789

摘要

Historians disagree over the meaning of the declaration on 17 June 1789 by Third Estate deputies, along with a few clergy, that they constituted a ‘National Assembly’, one that could act in place of the Estates General and despite the absence of most Noble and Clerical deputies. This article reconstructs the debates of 15–16 June 1789 leading up to this declaration, finding in deputy memoirs, letters and newspaper accounts fifty-eight speeches given by thirty-eight deputies supporting several alternative proposals. Careful analysis of the speeches demonstrates that selection of the title National Assembly was a result of contingent events and political compromise, primarily chosen as a means to end the stalemate between the Orders over verification of deputy credentials and over whether voting in the Estates General would be by head or by Order. It thus calls into question arguments that the declaration was the necessary outcome of a pre-revolutionary process.