Politics in America
Explanation of Origin of the Left and the Right
Right-wing- Left-wing — Where did these directional terms originate in the United States Political System?
Why do left and right signal different ends of a political spectrum?
Patrice Higonnet, a professor emeritus of French history at Harvard University, relates that the initial story of this use of vocabulary began in France in the summer of 1789. The French Revolution and the Bastille's storming escalated the population into chaos. The National Assembly met to act as the revolution’s government. Their primary focus at that time was to write a new constitution.
David A. Bell, a professor of early modern France at Princeton University, stated that one of the major issues of this assembly debated at that time was how much actual power the king would have. Would he have the power of absolute veto? During this assembly — as the debate continued- those who thought the king should have absolute veto power sat on the president's right of the National Assembly. During this time, those who believed the king should not have the right to absolute veto sat on the left of the assembly meeting. These individuals were considered “more radical” at the time. To clarify, those who wanted to stay closer to tradition and conservative were seated on the right and those who…
