Tricolour Cockade Presented to King
Lafayette and the new Paris authorities promoted the tricolour cockade combining Parisian and royal colours when Louis XVI visited city hall. It became an enduring emblem of the Revolution.
Permanent historical records · Updated 2026-11-03
1789 in France — Page 8
Explore 704 historical events and records for France in 1789.
Historical records for France in 1789
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July
Sieyes Project for Declaration of Rights
Sieyes presents a project for a declaration of rights during the Constituent Assembly's constitutional debates.
Assassination of Louis Jean Bertier
The Governor of Paris is bayonetted to death by the mob.
Death of Louis Jean Bertier
The Governor of Paris is bayonetted to death by the mob
Bailly confronts informal revolutionary tribunals
Crowd violence against suspected enemies challenged the legitimacy of formal municipal justice after July 1789. Bailly's government struggled to establish procedures capable of replacing popular retaliation.
Assembly Decides to Prepare Rights Declaration
The Constituent Assembly decides to prepare a Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen before completing the constitution.
Clermont-Tonnerre Rights Project Submitted
Clermont-Tonnerre submits another declaration project as deputies compare competing formulations of fundamental rights.
American Rights Models Inform Lafayette Draft
Lafayette draws on American declarations of rights while refining his proposed French declaration before presenting it to the Assembly.
Brissot enters revolutionary municipal politics
Brissot participated in the emerging Paris municipal establishment after the Bastille crisis. This civic experience connected his journalism to the practical politics of the capital.
Club Breton Organization
Sieyes helped organize the Club Breton, an early political network that later contributed to the Jacobin movement.
Lafayette Organizes Guard Command Structure
Lafayette supervised the consolidation of Parisian militia companies into a more disciplined force. His authority depended on cooperation with elected municipal officials and district units.
Mobilization
The military Governor of Paris brings in troops to defend the French capital city. The military Governor of Paris brings in extra troops to defend the French capital
Mobilization
The military Governor of Paris brings in troops to defend the French capital city. The military Governor of Paris brings in extra troops to defend the French capital.
Municipality coordinates new urban security
Mayor Bailly worked alongside the National Guard to stabilize Paris after the upheaval of July. The arrangement gave elected municipal authorities a major role in policing the capital.
Name National Guard adopted
Under Lafayette the Paris citizens militia became known as the National Guard. The new name presented armed citizens as defenders of the nation rather than merely of municipal property.
Paris Electors Authorize Armed Citizen Patrols
Parisian electors backed the creation of armed civic forces during the collapse of royal authority. The emerging militia sought to defend inhabitants and property while replacing unreliable royal policing.
Tricolor cockade associated with citizen soldiers
The Paris Guard embraced the tricolor cockade as the emblem of the new civic order. Lafayette promoted this symbolism to express a union of Paris and the monarchy under revolutionary colors.
Tricolour Cockades Identify Militia Members
Citizen soldiers adopted revolutionary colors as a visible emblem of their loyalty. The symbolism distinguished the militia from forces identified primarily with the crown.
Virginia Declaration Influence on Rights Project
Lafayette's draft reflects principles associated with the Virginia Declaration of Rights and his experience of the American Revolution.
August
Bailly addresses food provisioning emergency
Parisian anxiety about bread prices and scarce grain placed severe demands on Bailly's municipal administration. Food supply was a central test of whether the new government could maintain public confidence.
Barnave Calls Declaration a National Catechism
Barnave supports adoption of a declaration that can teach citizens the principles of political liberty.
Castellane Supports Declaration before Constitution
Castellane argues that fundamental rights and liberties should be defined and placed at the head of the constitution.
Malouet Warns against Premature Rights Declaration
Malouet argues that public order should be restored before the Assembly adopts an abstract declaration of rights.
Mounier Expresses Caution over Immediate Declaration
Mounier remains cautious about issuing a declaration before the constitutional framework has been fully designed.
Abolition of Feudalism
Abolition of tithes reduced Church income and drew the peasantry more directly into the Revolution.
Abolition of Feudalism
Artwork was produced and medallions struck to commemorate the event
Abolition of Feudalism
Artwork was produced and medallions struck to commemorate the event.
Abolition of Feudalism
Paris Mayor Jean-Sylvain Bailly declared that 'the National Assembly achieved more for the people in a few hours than the wisest and most enlightened nations had done for many centuries.
Abolition of Feudalism
The August Decrees created fundamental change across the breadth of the nation. They stripped away the domination and privilege of the nobility, creating a society based on individualism, equality and merit.
Abolition of Feudalism
The abolition of the tithe halved the income of the Church. The peasantry, previously kept at arms length from the revolution, were now part of it. The Assemblys deputies were hailed as heroes and praised for their self sacrifice.
Abolition of Feudalism
The response from the revolutionaries was as euphoric as the mood in the Assembly on August 4th.
Aiguillon endorses surrender of feudal rights
The Duke joined reformers calling for the abolition or redemption of feudal obligations. The night session overturns estate privileges made Versailles a focal point in the struggle over royal and representative authority.
Aiguillon supports rural dues reform
The Duke of Aiguillon advocated changes to feudal obligations as violence spread through the countryside. His contribution helped persuade aristocratic deputies that concessions were necessary to restore order.
Assembly addresses hunting privileges
The August reforms challenged noble monopolies over hunting that had angered many rural inhabitants. Bailly's Assembly discussed these grievances as part of its assault on exclusive estate rights.
Assembly declares equality of access to office
The abolition of privileges advanced the principle that citizens should qualify for offices on equal terms. Bailly chaired an Assembly moving from a society of estates toward a new basis of public service.
Assembly votes against personal servitude
Debates involving the Duke of Aiguillon culminated in a declaration that personal servitude and related feudal burdens should disappear. The reform weakened legal inequalities attaching peasants to lords.
August Decrees
Deputies feared the Great Fear would spread and threaten property, increasing pressure for a political response.
August Decrees
In the first days of August, the Bretons planned to rise in the Assembly and renounce certain feudal dues. This task was assigned to the Duke of Aiguillon, a radical nobleman, and Viscount de Noailles, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War
August Decrees
Liberal deputies from the Breton Club (the forerunner to the Jacobin movement) believed the peasants could only be calmed by a grand gesture from the Assembly, such as a partial surrender of feudal rights.
August Decrees
News of this rural violence electrified discussions among deputies of the Assembly. Dominated as they were by members of the bourgeoisie and liberal nobility, the majority of deputies were concerned that the Great Fear would spread further and pose a significant threat to property rights.
How these records were prepared
Generated from the World History Database historical_events table. Identical display records are collapsed; descriptions otherwise retain the stored text. Coverage and source quality vary. Check primary and specialist sources before citing individual historical claims.