1791 in France

Events from the year 1791 in France.

Decades:

Incumbents

28 January â Robespierre discusses the organisation of the National Guard in the Assembly;^[1] for three years a hot topic in French newspapers.

2 March â Claude Chappe and his brothers first demonstrate the optical telegraph.
Early March â Provincial militias are abolished and the DÃ©partement de Paris is placed above the Paris Commune (1789-1795) in all matters of general order and security.
March â The National Constituent Assembly accepts the recommendation of its Commission of Weights and Measures that the nation should adopt the metric system.

9 May â The Assembly discusses the right to petition.^[2]
15 May â The Constituent Assembly declares full and equal citizenship for all free people of color.
16â18 May â Elections begin; Robespierre proposes and carries the motion that no deputy who sat in the Constituent assembly can sit in the succeeding Legislative assembly.^[3]
28 May â Robespierre proposes all Frenchmen should be declared active citizens and eligible to vote.^[4]
30 May â Robespierre delivers a speech on the abolition of the death penalty but without success.^[5]

14 June â The abolition of the guild system is sealed; the Le Chapelier Law 1791 passes, which prohibits any kind of workers' coalition or assembly.
20â21 June â During the Flight to Varennes, Louis XVI and his family attempt to escape Paris, but are instead arrested at Varennes.

11 July â The ashes of Voltaire are transferred to the PanthÃ©on. An estimated million people attend the procession.
13â15 July â The Assembly debates the restoration of the king and his constitutional rights.^[6]
17 July â The Champ de Mars massacre occurs in Paris. Jean Sylvain Bailly and Marquis de LaFayette declare a ban on gathering followed by martial law.^[7]^[8]
19 July â The King is restored to his functions.

21 August â Haitian Revolution: A slave rebellion breaks out in the French colony of Saint-Domingue.
27 August
- Declaration of Pillnitz: A proclamation by Frederick William II of Prussia and the Habsburg Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, affirms their wish to "put the King of France in a state to strengthen the bases of monarchic government."
- Third Anglo-Mysore War: Battle of Tellicherry: Off the south-west coast of India: a British Royal Navy patrol forces a French convoy bound for Mysore to surrender.
29 Augustâ5 September â 1791 French legislative election.

3 September â The French Constitution of 1791 is accepted.
4 September â Louis XVI receives the title of King of the French.
13 September â Louis XVI accepts the final version of the completed constitution.
14 September â The Papal States lose Avignon to France.
28 September â Law on Jewish emancipation is promulgated, the first such legislation in modern Europe.
29 September â On the day before the dissolution of the Assembly, Robespierre opposes Jean Le Chapelier, who wants to proclaim an end to the revolution and restrict the freedom of the clubs.

1 October â The Legislative Assembly convenes.
6 October â The French Penal Code of 1791 is adopted.
14 October â A law is passed to reorganize the Garde Nationale in cantons and districts; officers and sub-officers are to be elected for one year only.
16â17 October â Massacres of La GlaciÃ¨re.
28 October â The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen is published.

Camembert cheese reputedly first made by Marie Harel, a farmer from Normandy.^[9]