Law
CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III (1795)
By mid–1795, dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, particularly the extra–constitutional nature of the government, had become widespread.
DISMANTLING THE TERROR: PARLIAMENTARIANISM REASSERTED
In condemning Robespierre on 9 Thermidor, the Convention deputies did not necessarily intend to end the Terror as much as prevent Robespierre and his followers from turning it on them.
DEBATE ON THE LAW OF 22 PRAIRIAL
Many in the Convention, including some on the Committee of Public Safety, opposed the proposed law, which they feared concentrated too much power in too few hands and would only further destabilize the Republic.
THE LAW OF 22 PRAIRIAL YEAR II (10 JUNE 1794)
Although the most immediate threats to the security of the Republic—foreign invasion, the civil war in the Vendée, the Federalist uprisings, the grain shortage in Paris, and hyperinflation—had abated by June 1794, Robespierre and his allies on the Committee of Public Safety argued all the more st
THE CALENDAR
A reformed calendar was a goal of the revolutionaries who sought to remake not only the political system and the social order, but also the very experience of life.
THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL’S USE OF THE GUILLOTINE
This description of the proceedings of the revolutionary tribunal, and of the physical setting of the Place de la Révolution where the guillotine stood, by an unsympathetic English observer gives the flavor of the workings of revolutionary justice.
MOBILIZATION FOR WAR (5 JULY 1792)
Although a small minority in the Legislative Assembly when it convened in September 1791, the Girondins succeeded in passing a resolution in favor of war with "the King of Bohemia and Hungary," meaning the Habsburg Empire in April 1792.
EXECUTION OF THE QUEEN (16 OCTOBER 1793)
At the conclusion of her trial, the Queen was found guilty and sentenced to death. The newspaper of record, the Moniteur, reports the Queen’s response to the verdict and her execution the next morning with a good deal of sympathy and respect.
THE QUEEN’S DEFENSE (14 OCTOBER 1793)
Seven months after the execution of the King, shortly after the declaration of "Revolutionary Government," the Convention turned to the rest of the royal family.
EXECUTION OF THE KING (21 JANUARY 1793)
After voting unanimously to find the King guilty, the deputies held a separate vote on his punishment. By a single vote, Louis was sentenced to death, "within twenty–four hours." Thus, on 21 January 1793, Louis Capet, formerly King of France was beheaded by the guillotine.