3+Maximilien+Robespierre

Maximilien Robespierre  Born May 6, 1758 Executed July 28, 1794

Maximilien Robespierre was born in Arras on May 6, 1758. He studied at the college of Louis-le-Grand in Paris and became a successful lawyer. He was greatly influenced by the philosopher Jean-jacuqes Rousseau, who argued that the right to govern came from the people. In 1789, Robespierre was elected to the Estates-General, an assembly that the king called to deal with a financial crisis in France.He wanted voting rights extended to all the people, including protestants, jews, and free blacks of the French colonies. Robespierre became a leader of the Jacobin Club of Paris, a radical political group. By 1792, most Jacobins wanted a democratic republic instead of a constitutional monarchy.When the people of Paris took custody of king Louis XVI and his family and imprisoned them.Soon afterward, Robespierre was elected to the National Convention, a national assembly established to take over the government of France. Robespierre then led an attack in the Convention against moderate deputies known as the Girondists. He and his followers expelled the Girondists in June 1793 and took control of the Convention. In July 1793, Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety, the Convention's governeing body. His speches justified the reign of Terror to defend and "purify" the revolution. By the end of July 1794, thousands of rebels and suspected "enemies of the republic" had been executed, including Robespierre's one-time friend and fellow deputy, Georges Danton. Soon before his death, many members of the Convention became Robespierre's enemies. They feared for their lives and organized a plot against him. On July 26, 1974, Robespierre seemed to call for an end to the use of terror, but he also threatened unnamed deputies. The next day, a group of his opponents persuaded the Concention to order his arrest. They sentenced him to die on the guillotine. He was executed on July 28, 1794.

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