That same desire and tension culminated at the inception of the French Revolution when the representatives of the Third Estate decided to break off from the Estates General to create the National Assembly because their people were not being fairly represented. In the Estates General, voting was done by order meaning that the First and Second Estates, which included less than two percent of the population of France at the time, had more representation than the people of the much larger Third Estate. The aspiration for a government that made decisions fairly and gave every citizen the same amount of power in voting was what instigated the French Revolution. At the start of The Terror, the Committee of Public Safety drafted the Constitution of 1793, through never implemented, it demonstrated the goals of the government would work towards during The Terror. The first clause of this constitution is about the population as a whole getting equal representation in government: “Population is the sole basis of national representation. There shall be one deputy for every 40,000 individuals.” (“Constitution of 1793,” 33). During the Reign of Terror, there a plan to work as “one and …show more content…
On September 29, 1793, The National Convention set fixed prices on foodstuff such as grain and other basic necessities. In the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the first article is, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.” (5). The Sans-Culottes had a plan “to permanently fix the prices of essential goods, raw materials, salaries for work, profits of industry and commerce” (“Address to the National Convention,” 55) and by doing this they would create an equality in the right to have essential goods. The government also wanted to create a General Maximum to protect the people from anyone who has the harmful “arbitrary power to put a price on goods that seven eighths of the citizenry cannot afford” and they believe that the “Republic should assure the means for each of them (the citizens) to acquire the essential goods without which they cannot preserve their lives.” (“Address to the National Convention,” 55). The Sans-Culotte wanted regulations on the prices for “essential goods” to protect the French people from starving and to make sure that a person can not get “arbitrary power” by having a monopoly on a common necessity, which the National Convention already established as “a capital crime” (“Decree Against Profiteers,” 53). In The Constitution of 1793, some