# How did the political right and the left come to be?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-political-right-and-the-left-come-to-be/130053>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 29, 2002, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-political-right-and-the-left-come-to-be/130053 "2002-09-29T02:28:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-political-right-and-the-left-come-to-be/130053/1 "2002-09-29T02:28:30Z")

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How have certain ideologies become associated with the right and the left, and for that matter, how did the terms “right and left” originate to differenciate between ideologies?

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**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-political-right-and-the-left-come-to-be/130053/2 "2002-09-29T02:29:45Z")

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BTW, if this becomes inconclusive, I’ll just ask the master.

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**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-political-right-and-the-left-come-to-be/130053/3 "2002-09-29T02:37:35Z")

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The French post revolutionary assembly, I believe: it describes the Speaker’s point of view regarding where the various political groupings sat.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-political-right-and-the-left-come-to-be/130053/4 "2002-09-29T02:43:20Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> BTW, if this becomes inconclusive, I’ll just ask the master.

Too late. Somebody already asked him. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_321.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_321.html)

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**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-political-right-and-the-left-come-to-be/130053/5 "2002-09-29T03:02:33Z")

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Well, I got my answer, I guess. I was kind of hoping for a long debate though.

OK, new question. Why did the French national assembly of 1789 pick this certain layout of seating?