Monarchiens

The Friends of the Monarchist Constitution (), commonly known as the Monarchist Club () or the Monarchiens, were one of the revolutionary factions in the earliest stages of the French Revolution. The Monarchiens were briefly a centrist stabilising force criticized by the left-wing of the National Constituent Assembly, the spectators in the galleries and the patriotic press. Established in August 1789, the Monarchist Club was quickly swept away. Specifically, the brief movement developed when the Revolution was shifting away from the Ancien Régime during the Spring of 1789 and was defeated by the end of 1789. Subsequently, the term itself is usually derogatory.

== Monarchien positions == Monarchiens were once viewed as contributors to the Third Estate. They differed from Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès and Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau as they did not "speak the language of democracy". Instead, they formed their views based on the liberalism influences of the years of the Enlightenment and Constitution of the United Kingdom. They sought fairness under law and pushed for a working constitution. The Monarchiens position favored voting and common deliberations. It aimed to merge the rights of the royal authority with the rights of the common man. This idea was in fact part of their downfall as the changes brought about by the Revolution were far more aggressive than what the Monarchiens viewed as acceptable. Specifically, the Monarchiens were unable to understand and reform to the importance of political legitimacy when it came to discussing the constitutional process. In fact, they sought to establish a free government without substituting one power for another, but rather redefining the existing powers of the monarchy.