Jean Joseph Mounier (French pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃ʒozɛfmunje]; 12 November 1758 – 28 January 1806) was a Frenchpolitician andjudge.
Mounier was born the son of a cloth merchant inGrenoble in Southeastern France. He studiedlaw, and in 1782 purchased a minor judgeship at Grenoble.[1] He took part in the struggle between theparlements and the court in 1788, and promoted the meeting of the estates of Dauphiné atVizille (20 July 1788), on the eve of theFrench Revolution. He was secretary of the assembly, and drafted thecahiers ("notebooks") of grievances and remonstrances presented by it to KingLouis XVI. Thus brought into prominence, Mounier was unanimously elected deputy of the third estate to theEstates General of 1789; Mounier also founded theMonarchiens party in August 1789.[2]
There, and in theConstituent Assembly, he was at first an upholder of the new ideas, pronouncing himself in favor of the union of the Third Estate with the two privileged orders, proposing the famousTennis Court Oath, assisting in the preparation of the new constitution, and demanding the return ofJacques Necker.[2] After theEstates General became theNational Assembly, Mounier was elected to the committee on the constitution.[1] Despite his skepticism of the abstract declaration of rights and his belief that such a declaration should be accompanied by a written constitution, Mounier was the principal author of the first three articles of theDeclaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted on 6 August.[3] On 28 September 1789 he was elected president of the Constituent Assembly. Being unable to approve the proceedings which followed, Mounier withdrew to Dauphiné, resigned as deputy, and, becoming suspect, took refuge inSwitzerland in 1790.[2]
He returned to France in 1801.Napoleon Bonaparte named him prefect of the department ofIlle-et-Vilaine, which he reorganized, and in 1805, he was appointed councillor of state. He died in Paris. His principal writings areConsidérations sur les gouvernements (1789);Recherches sur les causes qui ont empeché les Français de devenir libres (1792), andDe l'influence attribuée aux philosophes, aux francs-maçons et aux illuminés sur la Révolution Française. (1801).[2]
Mounier presents, after three interventions, the text of the first three articles, voted without discussion.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mounier, Jean Joseph".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 936. which in turn cites:
