The First Revolutionary Step 79 



The assembly believed itself strong enough to put this new 

 doctrine into practice, for the decree stated further: "The as- 

 sembly hastens to declare that as soon as it shall have fixed, in 

 concert with his majesty, the principles of the national regenera- 

 tion, it will occupy itself with the examination and with the con- 

 solidation of the public debt, putting the creditors of the state 

 from this time on under the protection, the fidelity, and loyalty 

 of the French nation.. 



"Having at last begun its work, the assembly recognizes also 

 that it owes its first efforts to the examination of the causes which 

 produce in the provinces of the kingdom the poverty which op- 

 presses the people and also to the investigation and development 

 of plans which may remedy the situation in the most prompt and 

 efficacious manner. Consequently, it has decided to name a com- 

 mittee which is to occupy itself with this important object. . . 

 The present resolution will be printed and distributed in all the 

 provinces." t 



It was thus, on June 17, 1789. that the commons took the first 

 revolutionary step by declaring themselves the national assembly. 

 The assumptions of the sovereignty of the people, of the right of 

 the majority to rule, and of the negation of the political independ- 

 ence of the clergy and of the nobility were all involved in this 

 act that marked the beginning of a new era for France. 



T) 



