Editing Nord-Pas-de-Calais (section)

==== The Creation of the Nord and Pas-de-Calais Départements ====
On September 29, 1789, the Constituent Assembly decided to reorganize [[France]] into departments of approximately 324 square leagues each. The northern provinces were to form four departments, but various projects clashed. Ultimately, the National Assembly decided in 1790 to create the [[Nord (French department)|Nord]] and [[Pas-de-Calais]] departments. [[Douai]] was initially chosen as the prefecture of Nord due to [[Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai|Merlin de Douai]]'s influence, but it was later moved to [[Lille]] by the [[French Consulate|First Consul]] on 3 [[Thermidor]] IX. The Nord department consisted of eight districts: [[Bergues]], [[Hazebrouck]], [[Lille]], [[Douai]], [[Cambrai|Cambray]], [[Valenciennes]], [[Le Quesnoy]], and [[Avesnes]], while [[Pas-de-Calais]] comprised [[Arras]], [[Bapaume]], [[Béthune]], [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]], [[Calais]], [[Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis|Montreuil]], [[Saint-Omer]], and [[Saint-Pol-de-Léon|Saint-Pol]].<ref>{{Harvtxt|Pierrard|1978|pp=260–264}}</ref>