The Plain La Plaine | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 6 September 1791 |
| Dissolved | 2 November 1795 |
| Headquarters | Tuileries Palace,[ citation needed ] Paris |
| Newspaper | Journal des débats [ citation needed ] |
| Ideology | Political syncretism |
| Colors | Grey |
The Plain (French : La Plaine), also known as The Marsh (French : Le Marais), was the majority of independent deputies in the French National Convention during the French Revolution. [1] [2] [3] [4] They sat between the Girondists on their right and Montagnards on their left. Their name arises from the fact their benches were by the debating floor, lower down from the Montagnards. [3] [4] Its members were also known as Maraisards, or derogatorily Toads (French : "crapauds du Marais") as toads live in marshes. [5]
None of these three groups was an organized party as is known today. The Mountain and the Girondists did consist of individuals with similar views and agendas who socialized together and often coordinated political plans. However, The Plain consisted of uncommitted delegates that did not adhere to a single ideology, [6] were not part of any political club [3] and lacked leadership. [3] They constituted the majority of delegates to the Convention at 389 of 749 [6] and voted with the Girondists or the Mountain depending on the persuasiveness of arguments on single issues, [4] current circumstances and mood of the Convention. They initially sided with the Girondists, [6] but by 1793 many backed the Mountain [6] in executing Louis XVI and inaugurating the Terror. The January 4 address by Plain member Bertrand Barère [4] is credited in part for rallying undecided fellow members against the king. [7]
Nearly all those elected to the Committee for Public Safety in 1793 were members of The Plain, including the popular Barère. [8]
Later in 1794 disaffected members of the Mountain led by Jean-Lambert Tallien made a pact with leaders of the Plain Julien-François Palasne de Champeaux, François Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas and Pierre-Toussaint Durand de Maillane to end the Terror, [9] [10] [11] ultimately inaugurating the Thermidorian Reaction.
Other notable members in 1792 included Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, [4] Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, Antoine Claire Thibaudeau, Henri Grégoire, Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai, Louis Gustave le Doulcet de Pontécoulant, Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, dramatist Marie-Joseph Chénier and Jacques-Antoine Dulaure who later sat with the Girondists. [12] Pierre Claude François Daunou who associated with the Girondists has also been regarded as part of The Plain. [12]
| Legislative Assembly | |||||
| Election year | No. of overall votes | % of overall vote | No. of overall seats won | +/– | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1791 | 1,978,000 (1st) | 46.3 | 345 / 745 | New | |
| National Convention | |||||
| 1792 | 1,747,200 (1st) | 51.9 | 389 / 749 |  44 | |
| Legislative Body | |||||
| 1795 | Did not participate | Did not participate | 200 / 750 |  189 | |
Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac was a French politician, freemason, journalist, and one of the most prominent members of the National Convention, representing the Plain during the French Revolution. The Plain was dominated by the radical Montagnards and Barère as one of their leaders supported the foundation of the Committee of Public Safety in April and of a sans-culottes army in September 1793. According to Francois Buzot, Barère was responsible for the Reign of Terror, like Robespierre and Louis de Saint-Just. In spring 1794 and after the Festival of the Supreme Being, he became an opponent of Maximilien Robespierre and joined the coup, leading to his downfall.
Georges Jacques Danton was a leading figure in the French Revolution. A modest and unknown lawyer on the eve of the Revolution, Danton became a famous orator of the Cordeliers Club and was raised to governmental responsibilities as the French Minister of Justice following the fall of the monarchy on the tenth of August 1792, and was allegedly responsible for inciting the September Massacres. He was tasked by the National Convention to intervene in the military conquest of Belgium led by French General Dumouriez. And in the Spring of 1793, he supported the foundation of a Revolutionary Tribunal and became the first president of the Committee of Public Safety.
The Society of the Friends of the Constitution, renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club or simply the Jacobins, was the most influential political club during the French Revolution of 1789. The period of its political ascendancy includes the Reign of Terror, during which well over 10,000 people were put on trial and executed in France, many for political crimes.
The Girondins, or Girondists, were a political group during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnards, they initially were part of the Jacobin movement. They campaigned for the end of the monarchy, but then resisted the spiraling momentum of the Revolution, which caused a conflict with the more radical Montagnards. They dominated the movement until their fall in the insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793, which resulted in the domination of the Montagnards and the purge and eventual mass execution of the Girondins. This event is considered to mark the beginning of the Reign of Terror.
Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière was a French inspector of manufactures in Lyon and became a leader of the Girondist faction in the French Revolution, largely influenced in this direction by his wife, Marie-Jeanne "Manon" Roland de la Platière. He served as a minister of the interior in King Louis XVI's government in 1792.
The National Convention was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the great insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic, abandoning the monarchy altogether. The Convention sat as a single-chamber assembly from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795.
The Mountain was a political group during the French Revolution. Its members, called the Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the National Convention. The term, first used during a session of the Legislative Assembly, came into general use in 1793. By the summer of 1793, that pair of opposed minority groups divided the National Convention. That year, the Montagnards were influential in what is commonly known as the Reign of Terror.
Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d'Armont, known as Charlotte Corday, was a figure of the French Revolution who assassinated revolutionary and Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat on 13 July 1793.
Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne, also known as Jean Nicolas or by his nicknames, the Righteous Patriot or the Tiger, was a French lawyer and a major figure in the French Revolution. A close associate of Georges Danton and Maximilien Robespierre, he was one of the most militant members of the Committee of Public Safety, and is often considered a key architect of the Reign of Terror.
Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois was a French actor, dramatist, essayist, and revolutionary. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror and, while he saved Madame Tussaud from the Guillotine, he administered the execution of more than 2,000 people in the city of Lyon.
In the historiography of the French Revolution, the Thermidorian Reaction is the common term for the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespierre on 9 Thermidor II, or 27 July 1794, and the inauguration of the French Directory on 2 November 1795.
Jean-Baptiste Robert Lindet was a French politician of the Revolutionary period. His brother, Robert Thomas Lindet, became a constitutional bishop and member of the National Convention. Although his role may not have been spectacular, Jean-Baptiste Lindet came to be the embodiment of the growing middle class that came to dominate French politics during the Revolution.
The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, it consisted of 144 delegates elected by the 60 divisions of the city. Before its formal establishment, there had been much popular discontent on the streets of Paris over who represented the true Commune, and who had the right to rule the Parisian people. The first mayor was Jean Sylvain Bailly, a relatively moderate Feuillant who supported constitutional monarchy. He was succeeded in November 1791 by Pétion de Villeneuve after Bailly's unpopular use of the National Guard to disperse a riotous assembly in the Champ de Mars.
François Hanriot was a French Sans-culotte leader, street orator, and commander of the National Guard during the French Revolution. He played a vital role in the Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 and subsequently the fall of the Girondins. On 27 July 1794 he tried to release Maximilien Robespierre, who was arrested by the Convention. He was executed on the next day – together with Robespierre, Saint-Just and Couthon – by the rules of the law of 22 Prairial, only verifying his identity at the trial.
The Hébertists, or Exaggerators were a radical revolutionary political group associated with the populist journalist Jacques Hébert, a member of the Cordeliers club. They came to power during the Reign of Terror and played a significant role in the French Revolution.
Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier was a major French politician of the French Revolution. He is sometimes called the "Great Inquisitor", for his active participation in the Reign of Terror.
During the French Revolution, the Extraordinary Commission of Twelve was a commission of the French National Convention charged with finding and trying conspirators. It was known for short as the Commission of Twelve and its formation led to the revolt of 2 June 1793, the fall of the Girondins and the start of the Reign of Terror.
The insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793, during the French Revolution, started after the Paris commune demanded that 22 Girondin deputies and members of the Commission of Twelve should be brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal. Jean-Paul Marat led the attack on the representatives in the National Convention, who in January had voted against the execution of the King and since then had paralyzed the convention. It ended after thousands of armed citizens surrounded the convention to force it to deliver the deputies denounced by the Commune.The insurrection resulted in the fall of 29 Girondins and two ministers under pressure of the sans-culottes, Jacobins, and Montagnards.
Jean-Baptiste Clauzel was a French politician. In 1790, he was elected mayor of his hometown. In 1791, his countrymen sent him to sit in the Legislative Assembly where he was very discreet. In 1792, he was re-elected to the Convention by the department of Ariege, when he sided with the Mountain. At the trial of Louis XVI in January 1793, this supposed royalist voted for the king's death without the possibility of a suspended sentence (sursis or of an appeal of the people. He did not vote for the impeachment of Jean-Paul Marat while claiming to be "far from approving all the principles of the Revolution espoused by his fanatic friend." Despite his opposition to the Girondins, he voted for the maintenance of their members' allowances to those under arrest. He served as a representative on mission to the Army of the Pyrenees from the end of August 1793 when he was recalled to Paris. He was among those who organized the downfall of Maximilien Robespierre. After 9 Thermidor Year II he joined the Committee of General Security, and supported the closing of the Jacobin Club. An active Thermidorian, he was extremely active during the insurrection of the 1st Prairial. He denounced and arrested the last Montagnards and called for the arrest of Bertrand Barère, Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne and Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois. Returning to the army of the Pyrenees, he found it disgracefully disorganized and unable to fight.
Notes
Bibliography
