National Assembly Relinquishes All Privileges

National Assembly Relinquishes All Privileges

This image, part of a series produced to show the most important events of the Revolution, focuses on 4 and 5 August 1789, when the system of privileges came to an end. This legal structure, characteristic of the old regime, guaranteed different rights for different people. Most obviously, nobles had advantages over commoners, but the system was a far more general phenomenon that encompassed guilds, cities, and regions. Almost, everyone participated in this system, but grievances were most obviously directed against the nobility. In destroying privilege, the National Assembly meant to set up a new system, in which every individual was equal before the law.

Isidore-Stanislas Helman (engraver)

Antoine-Jean Duclos (engraver)

Charles Monnet (designer)

1790

Public Domain

http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/648/|Michel Hennin. <em>Estampes relatives à l'Histoire de France</em>. Tome 119, Pièces 10386-10489, période : 1789

JPEG

French

648

Engraving

36 x 47cm

Assemblée Nationale abandon de tous les privilèges, à Versailles, séance de la nuit du 4 au 5 aout 1789