Louis-Antoine-Léon de Saint-Just
Date of Birth
August 25, 1767
Date of Death
July 28, 1794
About
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