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.

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.

They differed from Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès and Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau as they did not "speak the language of democracy".

Specifically, the Monarchiens were unable to understand and reform to the importance of political legitimacy when it came to discussing the constitutional process.

On 9 July, Mounier's views of the government's political position were outlined in a statement to the National Constituent Assembly.