[Sidenote: 7. The Constitution of 1791]
Amid all these sweeping reforms and changes, the National Constituent
Assembly was making steady progress in drafting a written constitution
which would clearly define the agencies of government, and their
respective powers, the new limited monarchy. This constitution was
completed in 1791 and signed by the king--he could do nothing else--and
at once went into full effect. It was the first written constitution of
any importance that any European country had had, and was preceded only
slightly in point of time by that of the United States. [Footnote: The
present American constitution was drafted in 1787 and went into effect
in 1789, the year that the Estates-General assembled.]
The Constitution of 1791, as it was called, provided, like the American
constitution, for the "separation of powers," that is, that the law-
making, law-enforcing, and law-interpreting functions of government
should be kept quite distinct as the legislative, executive, and
judicial departments, and should each spring, in last analysis, from
the will of the people.
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