The National Assembly is attempting to establish a new France by applying the principles derived from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (DDHC), notably:

• the law above everyone (with the establishment of a fundamental law that applies to all and defines the organization of power, the political regime, and the rights of citizens)
• the sovereignty of the nation
• the fundamental freedoms

This society was particularly hierarchical and organized as it was divided into 3 estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the common people:

• the clergy: "those who pray"
• the nobility: "those who fight"
• the common people: "those who work"

The storming of the Bastille put an end to the authority of the king and his submission to the decisions of the National Assembly. Indeed, he was forced to accept the creation of a National Guard, headed by General Lafayette, the appointment of Bailly as mayor of Paris, the withdrawal of royal troops from Paris, the recall of Necker, and he was also compelled to wear the revolutionary cockade.

Following this event, the deputies during the night of August 4 to 5 adopted the abolition of the privileges of the nobility and the clergy as well as the seigneurial rights, marking the end of the society of estates in favor of equality.

By stating new principles, the DDHC puts an end to the old regime, which had already been acknowledged by the Tennis Court Oath and the abolition of privileges. The DDHC thus proposes a political refoundation since the king is no longer sovereign, but the nation through the National Assembly; the DDHC also offers a social refoundation as the individual is no longer a subject of the king but a citizen of the nation, the society of estates no longer exists, and fundamental rights and freedoms are articulated such as equality (before taxes) and freedom of opinion, expression, belief...

On October 5 and 6, 1789, Parisians went to Versailles motivated by social demands (they wanted bread), symbolic claims (the recognition of the patriotic cockade as a symbol of the revolutionary process), and political demands (acceptance through signatures of the constitution abolishing the privileges and the DDHC, as well as the transfer of political institutions and the king to Paris).

In the night of June 20 to 21, 1791, the king, who did not accept the limitation of his powers, fled. He was recognized and arrested the next day in Varennes. This marked the beginning of political divisions between the royalists who supported the king and those who called for the establishment of a republic, including the sans-culottes. The sans-culottes are those who wear trousers instead of the noble breeches.