<P> The main controversies early on surrounded the issues of what level of power to be granted to the king of France (i.e.: veto, suspensive or absolute) and what form would the legislature take (i.e.: unicameral or bicameral). The Constitutional Committee proposed a bicameral legislature, but the motion was defeated 10 September 1789 (849--89) in favor of one house; the next day, they proposed an absolute veto, but were again defeated (673--325) in favor of a suspensive veto, which could be over-ridden by three consecutive legislatures . </P> <P> A second Constitutional Committee quickly replaced it, and included Talleyrand, Abbé Sieyès, and Le Chapelier from the original group, as well as new members Gui - Jean - Baptiste Target, Jacques Guillaume Thouret, Jean - Nicolas Démeunier, François Denis Tronchet, and Jean - Paul Rabaut Saint - Étienne, all of the Third Estate . </P> <P> Their greatest controversy faced by this new committee surrounded the issue of citizenship . Would every subject of the French Crown be given equal rights, as the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen seemed to promise, or would there be some restrictions? The October Days (5--6 October) intervened and rendered the question much more complicated . In the end, a distinction was held between active citizens (over the age of 25, paid direct taxes equal to three days' labor) which had political rights, and passive citizens, who had only civil rights . This conclusion was intolerable to such radical deputies as Maximilien Robespierre, and thereafter they never could be reconciled to the Constitution of 1791 . </P> <P> A second body, the Committee of Revisions, was struck September 1790, and included Antoine Barnave, Adrien Duport, and Charles de Lameth . Because the National Assembly was both a legislature and a constitutional convention, it was not always clear when its decrees were constitutional articles or mere statutes . It was the job of this committee to sort it out . The committee became very important in the days after the Champs de Mars Massacre, when a wave of revulsion against popular movements swept France and resulted in a renewed effort to preserve powers for the Crown . The result is the rise of the Feuillants, a new political faction led by Barnave, who used his position on the committee to preserve a number of powers for the Crown, such as the nomination of ambassadors, military leaders, and ministers . </P>

Explain the main features of the french constitution of 1791