Jean-Marie Roland de La Platière
Date of Birth
February 18, 1734
Date of Death
November 10, 1793
About
An inspector of manufactures with extensive administrative experience, Jean-Marie Roland served as minister of the interior from March to June 1792 and again from August 1792 to January 1793. On 10 June 1792, he addressed a letter to Louis XVI urging him to sanction decrees concerning refractory priests and the establishment of a camp for provincial National Guard volunteers near Paris. The king dismissed him three days later. Reappointed after 10 August, Roland used ministerial funds to purchase and circulate political publications. In November, he delivered papers discovered in Louis XVI’s concealed cabinet at the Tuileries to the Convention without first having them formally inventoried. His opponents accused him of withholding documents that might compromise his political allies, although the allegation was not proved. Roland resigned in January 1793, fled Paris during the insurrection of 31 May to 2 June and killed himself near Rouen on 10 November after learning of his wife’s execution.