Georges-Jacques Danton
Date of Birth
October 26, 1759
Date of Death
April 5, 1794
About
A lawyer and prominent Convention deputy, Danton served as Minister of Justice following the overthrow of the monarchy in August 1792 and was elected to the first Committee of Public Safety in April 1793. By the end of that year, he was associated with calls for greater clemency and a relaxation of the exceptional measures then in force. Arrested in March 1794, he was tried on charges including conspiracy and corruption. A decree passed during the trial allowed the defendants to be excluded from the proceedings; Danton was convicted and guillotined on 5 April 1794.