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Government

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A Royal History

This 1790 article from the Journal Universel, a leading radical newspaper, recounts the long desperate history of the monarchy that ironically led the revolution.

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Marat Attacks the Nobility

In this article, Marat characteristically expresses his concern that, although new governmental institutions had been created, they remained under the control of aristocratic influences, hostile to the Revolution.

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Aristocratic Values

This 1789 article from the Révolutions de Paris, a leading radical newspaper, argues that the Revolution has not been achieved, because all of the changes to date could still be reversed.

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Fear of Aristocratic Politics

In this article from April 1791, Fréron, a journalist allied to the radical Jean–Paul Marat, focuses on foreign enemies.

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Critics of Robespierre

The passage below, excerpted from the newspaper the French Patriot of 6 December 1792, is hostile to Robespierre.

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Marat’s Impeachment

A leading voice on behalf of greater popular participation and for social policies that would benefit the poor, the journalist Jean–Paul Marat used his radical newspaper The Friend of the People to criticize moderation.

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National Assembly Debate on Clubs (20 September 1791)

The "Champ de Mars Massacre" inaugurated a brief period of political repression directed at the popular movement and dramatized the growing tension between the claims of political activism and the desire of moderates to bring the Revolution to an orderly close.

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Proceedings of the Quinze–Vingts Section

In late July and early August 1792, amid ongoing rancor over the King’s role in the government and fears that he would betray the nation to the invading Prussians, various Parisian sections began petitioning for Louis to be deposed.

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Clubs for the People

By creating a fictional man named Jacques who must go to his workshop every day so he can support his family, yet who also wants to do his patriotic duty by following political events, the Révolutions de Paris, in this article that appeared in late 1790, calls upon the government to create and to

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Women at the Cordeliers

Popular clubs in Paris, unlike electoral assemblies, were not limited to men, at least in the early months of the Republic.