Following the dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly on September 30, 1791, the Legislative Assembly was assembled. The organization operated under the French Constitution of 1791, which was a principle failure of a document. Maximilien Robespierre moved that no members of the National Constituent Assembly be allowed to serve in the Legislative Assembly, creating a power vacuum as well as much inexperience. The Assembly lasted less than a year and left France with an empty treasury, a collapsed army and navy and many misaddressed domestic problems. The Legislative Assembly became gridlocked due to the bipartisan problems present with the left-right political spectrum.

Following an insurrection by the Paris Commune on August 10, 1792, the Legislative Assembly suspended the powers of King Louis XVI and called for a new National Convention to draw up a new constitution. An election was held for all Frenchmen of 25 years or older by universal male suffrage. The National Convention was first brought into session on September 20, 1792. The first order of the body was to abolish the monarchy. It also established September 22 as the first day of the French Republic.