In the spring of 1789 French society gathered for the first time in 175 years to elect men to a national body called to address a political and financial crisis. It was a crisis universally acknowledged to be national in scope. The mode of government established in France since the Estates-General last met in 1614 – royal absolutism mediated through privileged corporatism – had failed. Those electing deputies to the Estates-General saw the two chief tasks of the men whom they were choosing as remedying the fiscal situation and, more importantly, providing France with a constitution. There were certainly sharp differences over the constitution, beginning with the fundamental question of whether or not there already was one, but at the same time a common expectation prevailed that the objectives of the deputies would not require more than three or four months to complete. It was also believed that, apart from greater uniformity being brought about by the elimination of disparities in the administration of France, the basic configuration of the kingdom would remain essentially unchanged.

Before the end of 1789, however, sovereignty had been transferred from the monarch to the nation. The three estates of the kingdom no longer existed, provinces had been abolished, the parlements suspended and the National Assembly had irrevocably committed itself to a comprehensive restructuring of the polity that would extend the life of the original Estates-General to nearly two and one half years.