The initial moderate aim to establish a constitutional monarchy changed in 1792 to the more radical aim of the republicanism. The revolutionaries began by breaking away from the Estates-General and forming the National Assembly. They now claimed to speak and act on behalf of the entire nation of France in political, economic and social issues. They switched their attention to the drafting of a constitution that would provide for limitations on monarchical authority and power-sharing. The subsequent creation first of a Legislative Assembly and then of the National Convention all demonstrated their aims of establishing a constitutional monarchy. The moderate course was brief and by 1791 France was well on the way to far more radical policies. In 1792 the anti-monarchy sentiment was strong enough to lead to the proclamation of a Republic. The king was arrested, tried and condemned to die in December that year.
Various factors explain the radical shift in the revolutionaries’ aims. One significant issue was the growth of influence of radical Jacobin revolutionary elements that drew their support from the powerful mobs of Paris. They consolidated their strength by making use of the brute force of the mobs to disrupt sessions of the Legislative Assembly as well as the National Convention. They even incited the mobs to effect the arrest of 73 Girondists who were members of the National Convention. This and other failings of their opponents enabled them to take charge of the revolution and create the Republic they fervently desired. They were also aided by the failings of Louis XVI and the nobles and clergy. On numerous occasions, Louis XVI used his veto against legislation that seemed to threaten the interests of the nobles and clergy. The radicals were thus able to portray him as a biased ruler who only wanted to protect his allies’ interests at the expense of the majority of the nation. Things got worse for him following the alleged discovery of documents linking...