The part played by the concept of constituent power in prolonging, multiplying or magnifying the divisions in existence in France before and after 1789 has not been given much historical recognition.1 Between 1789 and 1792, however, it came to be used as a weapon in a number of concurrent conflicts centred on the consequences, whether actual or potential, of the disintegration of the French Empire and the growth of emigration from France. Through Sieyès, Ramsay’s concept of constituent power was given a status that was similar to, but less foundational than, Rousseau’s concept of a legislator. As Sieyès wrote in the draft Declaration of the Rights of Man that he presented to the National Assembly on 21 July 1789, constituent power was not required to constitute a nation or society but to constitute a government. This, initially, made its scope more limited than Rousseau’s concept of a legislator. Its focus on government also made it possible for Sieyès to circumvent the two apparently intractable problems that Rousseau had highlighted in his Social Contract. The first was how a sovereign, whose will was general, could elect a government, whose will was particular.