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Saint-Just, Louis Antoine

Louis-Antoine-Léon Saint-Just

Born

25 August 1767

Died

28 July 1794

Elected for the Aisne in September 1792, shortly after turning twenty-five, Saint-Just was the Convention’s youngest deputy. During the Convention’s preliminary debate on the legal basis for trying Louis XVI, Saint-Just argued that the former king could not be judged as an ordinary citizen under civil law because he had stood outside the social contract. He should instead, Saint-Just maintained, be judged as an enemy under the law of nations. In April 1793 he presented his own constitutional plan, proposing a single national legislature elected directly by adult men, a subordinate executive council and provisions for popular intervention in legislation. He was subsequently one of five deputies attached to the Committee of Public Safety to prepare the Constitution adopted on 24 June.

Remaining on the Committee after its reorganisation in July, he presented the October report that maintained the revolutionary government until peace. Sent with Philippe Le Bas to the Rhine and northern armies, he intervened in supply, discipline and command. His Ventôse reports proposed using the confiscated property of recognised enemies to assist indigent patriots, though little distribution followed. He also presented the Committee’s reports recommending the prosecution of Hébert, Danton and their associates. Arrested with Robespierre and Couthon on 9 Thermidor, he was executed the following day

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Articles about

Louis-Antoine Saint-Just

Review

Twelve who Ruled

Twelve Who Ruled remains one of the strongest accounts of the Terror, not least because Palmer neither romanticises it nor reduces it to a catalogue of horrors. His prose is readable and often remarkably vivid, and he manages to combine serious scholarship…

Essays

Saint-Just and the Problem of Being Twenty-Four

Saint-Just was repeatedly challenged over his age during elections in 1790 and 1791. The episodes offer a useful glimpse into the electoral rules of the early French Revolution, who qualified as an active citizen, and how Saint-Just tried to get around them.

Translations

Saint-Just Hyping up Robespierre’s Speech

Saint-Just, ordinarily rather reserved at the Jacobin Club, made an exception on January 1, 1793. Despite presiding over the session, he didn’t share personal views or push his own agenda. Instead, he invited his colleagues to fund the printing and nationwide distribution…

Essays

What Military Experience Did Saint-Just Have?

Saint-Just had no formal military training and had never served in the regular army before 1793. His military experience began with the National Guard at Blérancourt, but his most important role came later as a representative on mission to the armies of…

In the timeline

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25 Aug 1767Birth of Saint-Just See them in the timeline →