- The National Convention was a constituent assembly that governed France during the French Revolution, from September 1792 to October 1795.
- While the French monarchy was going through a difficult period, it convened the Estates General in 1789. The people rose up at the same time. The Third Estate constituted itself in the National Assembly in June. On August 26, 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man was proclaimed. The mode of government remained the monarchy, but external pressures and the king's lack of collaboration (he tried to flee Paris in June 1791) led to a radicalization of the revolutionaries.
- The sans-culottes stormed the Tuileries in August 1792. The Legislative Assembly consequently suspended the powers of the king and announced the convocation of a new Assembly:the National Convention was then elected by universal male suffrage on 2 September 1792.
September 21, 1792 - October 26, 1795
Characters
Maximilian of Robespierre
Georges Jacques Danton
Jean-Paul Marat
Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
Procedure
The Assembly is made up of 749 deputies, who are divided into three groups. The Girondins, located on the right, mainly regroup the liberal bourgeois. The members of the Plain (also called Marais), are located in the center, while the Montagnards are ranked on the left. Three periods cut the history of the Convention.
From September 21, 1792, the Girondins are in the majority. The most important measures are the proclamation of the First Republic and the death sentence of the king, guillotined in Paris on January 21, 1793. from June 1793.
The Mountain Convention sets up a “revolutionary government”, supposed to be temporary, the time to ensure the protection of the Republic. Radical solutions are put in place to defend the achievements of the Revolution, and the Montagnards control the new bodies, such as the Committee of Public Safety or the Revolutionary Tribunal. The Terror regime was put in place, with the abolition of feudal rights or the abolition of slavery, on February 4, 1794. The Vendée insurrections were harshly repressed. But these authoritarian excesses led to the execution of Robespierre on July 27, 1794.
The Thermidorian Convention, inspired by the Plain, positions itself in rupture:the revolutionary government is suppressed. It opposes the internal Counter-Revolution, concludes the treaties of Basel ending the war with Prussia, Spain and Holland. It votes the Constitution of the year III, setting up a republic of notables and establishing the suffrage censitaire.
Consequences
- On October 26, 1795, the National Convention gave way to the Directory.
- This episode of the French Revolution, marked by the victims of the clashes (soldiers, but also civilians during the repressions and the use of capital punishment) contributes to the dark image of the Revolution. The Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1793 nevertheless lays down the principles which founded our democracy, namely the recognition of certain fundamental social rights (public relief and education) not included in the first Declaration of 1789.