POLITICAL INTOLERANCE Maximilien Robespierre and Political Intolerance

n 1792, France was in turmoil. It was the third ments in favor of executing Louis XVI, that won him Iyear of revolution, and instability reigned. popularity among the revolutionary masses. Many Undermined by revolts in the provinces and beset moderates opposed Robespierre’s position, calling upon by counter-revolutionary armies on all of instead for a popular referendum on the fate of the its frontiers, France’s new leaders desperately king. However, these voices soon were drowned out sought new ways to instill order among the chaos. by the powerful revolutionary rhetoric employed The constitutional monarchy established in the by Robespierre and his allies. Declaring that “Louis Constitution of 1791 had failed to govern the must die so that the nation may live,” Robespierre country effectively. Revolutionary violence reached helped convince the Convention to vote for the a fever pitch as thousands of imprisoned nobles king’s death. The hopes for moderation in building and clerics were slaughtered in their jail cells in the a just and peaceful revolution died along with the “September Massacres.” The National Convention king. Robespierre and many other revolutionaries had become the default government and voted to were bent on destroying the old order in France and dissolve the monarchy. They now had to decide ushering in a utopian reign of liberty, equality, and what to do with the deposed and imprisoned king. fraternity. The Revolution had reached a crisis. For their part, Robespierre and the faction of It was during this period that a little-known political radicals known as the Montagnards became lawyer and Deputy of the National Convention, convinced that the tendencies of the moderate Maximilien Robespierre, began his rapid ascent group, the Girondists, were not merely hobbling to power. Known early on as “the incorruptible,” the progress of the revolution, but constituted Robespierre’s fierce dedication to the principles outright treason. By May 1793, Robespierre called of the revolution made him a popular figure. His on the Montagnards to rebel against the Girondist- uncompromising ideological allegiance led government and urged the armed to the purity of virtue and the prin- people of Paris to forcibly depose ciples of the revolution, and his Girondist deputies. In June, willingness to destroy its en- the Girondists were expelled emies, led him to embrace from the Convention and bloody, state-sponsored arrested. violence to achieve his In July 1793, Robe- ends of a utopian state. spierre took control of The consequence was the newly-formed Com- the Terror. mittee of Public Safety. A former opponent In most initiatives, the of the death penalty, he Committee was able to made powerful argu- bypass the more deliber-

HEROES & VILLAINS: THE QUEST FOR CIVIC VIRTUE ate National Convention and take direct action as The Committee and the Revolutionary Tribu- committee members saw fit. Because of these far- nals oversaw the execution of thousands of people reaching powers, the Committee of Public Safety by the guillotine who disagreed, or appeared to became the de-facto executive of the French Re- disagree, with the official policies of Robespierre public, with Robespierre at its helm. Robespierre and the Montagnards. In March 1794, even the and his followers could now impose their vision of Hébertists, a political faction even more extreme revolutionary virtue and ideological purity with the than Robespierre, were executed. That same power of the state. The search for “enemies of the month, Robespierre’s former ally Georges Danton, a revolution” and “enemies of the state” soon began well-established Montagnard radical, was executed in earnest. for publicly critiquing the mandates of the Com- In September 1793, Robespierre and the mittee of Public Safety. In the provinces, the Reign Committee of Public Safety sought to destroy any of Terror was carried out in gruesomely creative perceived ideological opponents to the revolution ways. In Nantes, thousands of people were rowed within France. Inspired by a speech by Robespierre, out into the Loire River, weighted with large stones, they declared that “terror was the order of the and drowned en masse. Priests and nuns were es- day,” inaugurating the Reign of Terror. This led to pecially targeted in this practice that became known the wholesale execution of tens of thousands of as the “Republican Baptism.” In other instances, political and religious dissidents, rebels, émigrés, hundreds of political prisoners were gathered to- common criminals, and anyone suspected of being gether and mowed down by cannon fire. No one an enemy of the revolution or failing adequately to was immune from the revolutionary violence in its embrace it with enough fervor. That same month, pursuit of a pure revolution. the Committee passed the Law of Suspects, naming During Robespierre’s reign as the head of large swathes of the population as suspected traitors the Committee of Public Safety, the barbarity to the revolution. Among those named in the law and scope of the Reign of Terror continually were “those who, by their conduct, associations, widened. The national sense of paranoia came to comments, or writings have shown themselves a crescendo throughout the spring and summer of partisans of tyranny or federalism and enemies of 1794. On July 26, Robespierre spoke before the liberty,” as well as any nobility and their family who Convention and claimed a new conspiracy was had not displayed sufficient revolutionary ardor. afoot to undermine the nation. The deputies in By October 1793, Robespierre and the Committee the Convention grew afraid that Robespierre and of Public Safety approvingly watched the execution his supporters intended to execute them on false of the deposed Girondists, their former friends charges of treason. The next day, the Convention and allies. In December, the Convention granted ordered the arrest of Robespierre and several other sole executive authority to the committee, making members of the Committee of Public Safety. On Robespierre the most powerful man in France. July 28, Robespierre himself was executed by the The unhealthy political and civic culture of guillotine, the horrific symbol of the Reign of Terror. revolutionary France now fed suspicion of fellow A more moderate government was installed in the citizens and resulted in a murderous purge of ensuing Thermidorian Reaction (even though it “enemies.” This destruction of enemies of the state killed thousands of Catholic rebels in the Vendee), would became prevalent in totalitarian regimes in and the Terror was over. the twentieth century.

© THE BILL OF RIGHTS INSTITUTE Defining Civic Virtues: Political Intolerance Disrespect for the different political views of others and violating their inalienable rights

HEROES & VILLAINS: THE QUEST FOR CIVIC VIRTUE