National Assembly

The phrase “national assembly” usually refers to a legislative body that makes up one part of a larger governmental structure. A country’s national assembly tends to be the body tasked with enacting legislation, and it may consist of a single house (hence the national assembly) or a bicameral legislature like that of the United States, with its Senate and House of Representatives.

Regardless of its structure, a national assembly exists to represent the interests of a nation as a whole, rather than of particular states or regions within the nation. Often this distinction is made apparent through the existence of state or regional assemblies that are separate from their national counterparts.

Background

A national assembly is a legislative body responsible for enacting, changing, and repealing laws on behalf of the citizens of a country. It is composed of representatives who have been elected by the citizens of a particular region to serve for a finite period of time. The concept of representative democracy, of which a national assembly is one example, dates back to the Roman Republic (the Greek model, rather than being a representative government, was what is known as a “direct democracy,” in which citizens themselves vote on issues, rather than electing representatives to vote on their behalf). In the twenty-first century, representative democracy is the most common form of government in the Western hemisphere, and worldwide more than half of the population lives in representative democracies. In 2024, nearly 240 countries had national assemblies, including Angola, Benin, Cabo Verde, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and São Tomé and Príncipe, to name only a few.

Overview

The national assembly played a significant role in French history in particular. The body existed under the name National Assembly (Assemblée nationale) for slightly less than one month in 1789 during the tumult of the French Revolution. After that period, it became known as the National Constituent Assembly (Assemblée nationale constituante) and, later, the Legislative Assembly (Assemblée législative). The assembly was formed when members of the third estate (“the commons,” as opposed to the first and second estates, which consisted of the clergy and the nobility) were prevented from convening by King Louis XVI. Instead, the members met in the nearby royal tennis court, where they took the Tennis Court Oath on June 20, 1789, vowing that they would remain united until they had succeeded in the drafting and implementation of a new constitution for the country. While the king initially resisted the formation of the assembly and many feared that he would put an end to it altogether, he soon yielded to popular pressure and legalized the body on June 27 of that year.

One action of the National Assembly shortly after its formation was the issuance of the August Decrees. These decrees essentially nullified many of the landlord-tenant obligations of rural peasants toward the owners of the land on which they lived and worked. The decrees were issued in an attempt to settle the widespread fears that were dubbed la grande peur, the great fear, in which workers in the countryside had begun attacking wealthy estates.

Another of the National Assembly’s reforms was the creation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789). This document echoed many of the sentiments expressed in the US Declaration of Independence. Among other provisions, the French declaration made plain that the sovereignty of the nation lay with the people rather than with the king or the nobility, and it also included guarantees for due process in court proceedings.

The National Assembly was much criticized for actions it took that were perceived as contrary to the interests of the church or even as antireligious. The most significant measures were the nationalization of real property (i.e., land) belonging to the churches, the suppression of the religious orders, and the imposition of a requirement for clergy to swear an oath that they would abide by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (July 12, 1790). The dissolution of the religious orders was met by an especially large wave of protests, but it was a move the assembly felt it had no other alternative but to take. This was because France at the time was nearly bankrupt, and the church possessed great wealth in the form of both liquid assets and land holdings, owing largely to its many centuries of existence as a tax exempt entity nevertheless allowed to collect the tithe (10 percent) from all worshippers.

Under France’s amended 1958 constitution, the National Assembly is the lower house of parliament and has 577 deputies who serve five-year terms. These terms are occasionally interrupted if and when the French president decides to dissolve the assembly, though this happens only infrequently. Dissolving the assembly and calling for new elections is usually only done when the seated body finds itself unable to come to agreement on an issue or is unwilling to cooperate and chart a direction for the nation. In keeping with tradition, liberal parties are seated on the left side of the assembly chamber and conservative parties are seated on the right side, which has given rise to the often-heard appellations “left wing” and “right wing.” The prime minister and the ministers of government departments are chosen from the ranks of the party with a majority of seats, or from a coalition of smaller parties.

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