The Radical Moderates of 1789
The Radical Moderates of 1789
The Tragic Middle of the French Monarchiens
This chapter examines the meanings of moderation during the initial phase of the French Revolution by focusing on the ideas of Jean-Joseph Mounier, Stanislas de Clermont-Tonnerre, Trophimé-Gérard Lally-Tollendal, and Pierre Victor Malouet—the French monarchiens, also known as the “radical moderates” of 1789. It first provides a background on the monarchiens before discussing their attitude toward Montesquieu and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It then considers the debates in the new Constitutional Assembly over the task of “fixing” the French constitution, Mounier's influence on the document Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the controversy surrounding bicameralism and the royal veto. It also looks at the dialogue between the monarchiens and Edmund Burke regarding the former's political agenda that mixed moderation and radicalism. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the monarchiens' experience demonstrates the limits of moderation in revolutionary times.
Keywords: moderation, French Revolution, Jean-Joseph Mounier, Stanislas de Clermont-Tonnerre, Trophimé-Gérard Lally-Tollendal, Pierre Victor Malouet, monarchiens, radical moderates, bicameralism, radicalism
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