List of Presidents of the National Convention


From 22 September 1792 to 2 November 1795, the French Republic was governed by the National Convention, whose president may be considered as France's legitimate Head of State during this period. Historians generally divide the Convention's activities into three periods, moderate, radical, and reaction, and the policies of presidents of the Convention reflect these distinctions. During the radical and reaction phases, some of the presidents were executed, most by guillotine, committed suicide, or were deported. In addition, some of the presidents were later deported during the Bourbon Restoration in 1815.

Establishment of the Convention

The National Convention governed France from 20 September 1792 until 26 October 1795 during the most critical period of the French Revolution. The election of the National Convention took place in September 1792 after the election of the electoral colleges by primary regional assemblies on 26 August. Owing to the abstention of aristocrats and the anti-republicans, and the general fear of victimization, the voter turnout in the departments was low – as little as 7.5 percent or as much as 11.9% of the electorate, compared to 10.2% in the 1791 elections, despite the doubling of the number of eligible voters.
Initially elected to provide a new constitution after the overthrow of the monarchy on 10 August 1792, the Convention included 749 deputies drawn from businesses and trades, and from such professions as law, journalism, medicine, and the clergy. Among its earliest acts was the formal abolition of the monarchy, through Proclamation, on 21 September, and the subsequent establishment of the Republic on 22 September. The French Republican Calendar discarded all Christian reference points and calculated time from the Republic's first full day after the monarchy – 22 September 1792, the first day of Year One.
According to its own rules, the Convention elected its President every fortnight. He was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a fortnight. Ordinarily the sessions were held in the morning, but evening sessions also occurred frequently, often extending late into the night. In exceptional circumstances, the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For both legislative and administrative deliberations, the Convention used committees, with powers more or less widely extended and regulated by successive laws. The most famous of these committees included the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security.
The Convention held both legislative and executive powers during the first years of the French First Republic and had three distinct periods: Girondins, Montagnard and Thermidorian. The Montagnards favored granting the poorer classes more political power; the Girondins favored a bourgeois republic and wanted to reduce the power and influence of Paris over the course of the revolution. A popular uprising in Paris helped to purge the Convention of the Girondins between 31 May and 2 June 1793; the last of the Girondins served as presidents in late July.
In its second phase, the Montagnards controlled the convention. War and an internal rebellion convinced the revolutionary government to establish a Committee of Public Safety which exercised near dictatorial power. Consequently, the democratic constitution, approved by the convention on 24 June 1793, did not go into effect and the Convention lost its legislative initiative. The rise of Mountaineers corresponded with the decline of the Girondins. The Girondin party had hesitated on the correct course of action to take with Louis XVI after his attempt to flee France on 20 June 1791. Some elements of the Girondin party believed they could use the king as figurehead. While the Girondins hesitated, the Montagnards took a united stand during the trial in December 1792 – January 1793 and favored the king’s execution. Riding on this victory, the Montagnards then sought to discredit the Girondins using tactics previously used against themselves, denouncing the Girondins as liars and enemies of the Revolution. The last quarter of the year was marked by the Reign of Terror, also known as The Terror, a period of violence incited by conflict between these rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution". The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with 16,594 executed by guillotine, and another 25,000 in summary executions across France. Most of the Parisian victims of the guillotine filled the Madeleine, Mosseaux, and Picpus cemeteries.
In the third phase, called Thermidor after the month in which it began, many of the members of the Convention overthrew the most prominent member of the committee, Maximilien Robespiere. This reaction to the radical influence of the Committee of Public Safety reestablished the balance of power in the hands of the moderate deputies. The Girondins who had survived the 1793 purge were recalled and the leading Montagnards were themselves purged, and many executed. In August 1795, the Convention approved the Constitution for the regime that replaced it, the bourgeois-dominated Directory, which exercised power from 1795 to 1799, when a coup d'etat by Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew it.

Moderate Phase: September 1792 – June 1793

Initially, La Marais, or The Plain, a moderate, amorphous group, controlled the Convention. At the first session, held on 20 September 1792, the elder statesman Philippe Rühl presided over the session. The following day, amidst profound silence, the proposition was put to the assembly, "That royalty be abolished in France"; it carried, with cheers. On the 22nd came the news of the Republic's victory at the Battle of Valmy. On the same day, the Convention decreed that "in future, the acts of the assembly shall be dated First Year of the French Republic". Three days later, the Convention added the corollary of "the French republic is one and indivisible", to guard against federalism.
The following men were elected for two-week terms as Presidents, or executives, of the Convention.
ImageDatesNameFate
20 September 1792Philippe RühlSuicide, 29/30 May 1795
20 September 1792 4 October 1792Jérôme Pétion de VilleneuveBotched suicide, guillotined 18 June 1794
4 October 1792 18 October 1792Jean-François DelacroixGuillotined with Georges Danton, 5 April 1794
18 October 1792 1 November 1792Marguerite-Élie GuadetGuillotined 17 June 1794
1 November 1792 15 November 1792Marie-Jean Hérault de SéchellesGuillotined with Georges Danton, 5 April 1794
15 November 1792 29 November 1792Henri GrégoireDied 28 May 1831
29 November 1792 – 13 December 1792Bertrand Barère de VieuzacDied 13 January 1841
13 December 1792 27 December 1792Jacques Defermon des Chapelieres20 June 1831
27 December 1792 10 January 1793Jean-Baptiste TreilhardDied 1 December 1810
10 January 1793 24 January 1793Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud31 October 1793, guillotined.
24 January 1793 7 February 1793Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne5 December 1793, guillotined
7 February 1793 21 February 1793Jean-Jacques Bréard, dit Bréard-Duplessis2 January 1840
21 February 1793 7 March 1793Edmond Louis Alexis Dubois-Crancé29 June 1814
7 March 1793 21 March 1793Armand Gensonné31 October 1793, guillotined
21 March 1793 4 April 1793Jean Antoine Joseph Debry6 January 1834, Paris
4 April 1793 18 April 1793Jean-François-Bertrand DelmasDisappeared 19 August 1798
18 April 1793 2 May 1793Marc David Alba Lasource31 October 1793, guillotined with the Girondins
2 May 1793 16 May 1793Jean-Baptiste Boyer-Fonfrède31 October 1793, guillotined
16 May 1793 30 May 1793Maximin Isnard12 March 1825
30 May 1793 13 June 1793François-René-Auguste Mallarmé25 July 1835

At the end of May 1793, an uprising of the Parisian sans culottes, the day-laborers and working class, undermined much of the authority of the moderate Girondins. At this point, although Danton and Hérault de Séchelles both served one more term each as Presidents of the Convention, the Girondins had lost control of the Convention: in June and July compromise after compromise changed the course of the revolution from a bourgeois event to a radical, working class event. Price controls were introduced and a minimum wage guaranteed to workers and soldiers. Over the course of the summer, the government became truly revolutionary.

Radical phase: June 1793 – July 1794

After the insurrection, any attempted resistance to revolutionary ideals was crushed. The insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 marked a significant milestone in the history of the French Revolution. The days of 31 May – 2 June resulted in the fall of the Girondin party under pressure of the Parisian sans-culottes, Jacobins of the clubs, and Montagnards in the National Convention. The following men were elected as presidents of the Convention during its transition from its moderate to radical phase.
The following men were elected as presidents of the Convention during its radical phase.

Reaction: July 1794–1795

On 27 July 1794, the National Convention voted for the arrest of Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, and several allies, and they were executed the following day. This ended the most radical phase of the French Revolution.
The following men were presidents of the Convention until its end.
ImageDatesNameDOD/Fate
19 July 1794 3 August 1794Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois8 June 1796
3 August 1794 18 August 1794Philippe Antoine Merlin, dit Merlin de Douai26 December 1838
18 August 1794 2 September 1794Antoine Merlin de Thionville14 September 1833
2 September 1794 22 September 1794André Antoine Bernard, dit Bernard de Saintes19 October 1818
22 September 1794 7 October 1794André Dumont19 October 1838
7 October 1794 22 October 1794Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès8 March 1824
One of the few members of La Marais to be elected President
Authored Napoleon's Civil Code
22 October 1794 6 November 1794Pierre-Louis Prieur, dit Prieur de la Marne31 May 1827
6 November 1794 24 November 1794Louis Legendre13 December 1797, died of natural causes
24 November 1794 6 December 1794Jean-Baptiste Clauzel-
6 December 1794 21 December 1794Jean-François Reubell23 November 1807
21 December 1794 6 January 1795Pierre-Louis Bentabole1797
6 January 1795 20 January 1795Étienne-François Le Tourneur4 October 1817
20 January 1795 4 February 1795Stanislas Joseph François Xavier Rovèredied in 1798 in French Guiana
4 February 1795 19 February 1795Paul Barras29 January 1829
19 February 1795 6 March 1795François Louis Bourdon22 June 1798, after being deported to French Guiana
6 March 1795 24 March 1795Antoine Claire Thibaudeau8 March 1854
24 March 1795 5 April 1795Jean Pelet, also Pelet de la Lozère26 January 1842
5 April 1795 20 April 1795François-Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas1828
One of the few members of La Marais to be elected President
20 April 1795 5 May 1795Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès20 June 1836
One of the few members of La Marais to be elected President
5 May 1795 26 May 1795Théodore Vernier
26 May 1795 4 June 1795Jean-Baptiste Charles Matthieu
4 June 1795 19 June 1795Jean Denis, comte Lanjuinaisdied in 1828 in Paris
19 June 1795 4 July 1795Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray25 August 1797
4 July 1795 19 July 1795Louis-Gustave Doulcet de Pontécoulant17 November 1764 – 3 April 1853
19 July 1795 3 August 1795Louis-Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux24 March 1824
3 August 1795 19 August 1795Pierre Claude François Daunou20 June 1840
19 August 1795 2 September 1795Marie-Joseph Chénier10 January 1811
2 September 1795 23 September 1795Théophile Berlier12 September 1844
23 September 1795 8 October 1795Pierre-Charles-Louis Baudin1799
8 October 1795 26 October 1795Jean Joseph Victor Génissieu27 October 1804

Successor organization

The Directory was the government of France following the collapse of the National Convention in late 1795. Administered by a collective leadership of five directors, it preceded the Consulate established in a coup d'etat by Napoleon. It lasted from 2 November 1795 until 10 November 1799, a period commonly known as the "Directory era". The directory operated with a bicameral structure. A Council of the Ancients, selected by lot, named the directors. For its own security, the Left resolved that all five must be old members of the Convention and regicides who had voted to execute King Louis XVI. The Ancients chose Jean-François Rewbell; Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras; Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux; Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot; and Étienne-François Le Tourneur.

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