About

A cavalry colonel elected as the first deputy of the nobility of Paris, Clermont-Tonnerre was among the forty-seven noble deputies who joined the National Assembly on 25 June 1789. Twice elected its president, he served on the first Constitution Committee and supported the bicameral legislature and royal veto advocated by Mounier, Malouet and other constitutional monarchists. In the debate of 23 December 1789, he argued that Protestants, Jews, actors and executioners should not be excluded from civil rights or public office. He maintained that Jews should receive citizenship as individuals while retaining no separate public jurisdiction as a corporate nation. In 1790, he helped establish the Club des Impartiaux, later reorganised as the Society of Friends of the Monarchical Constitution. It was closed following hostile demonstrations in March 1791. Clermont-Tonnerre was killed by a crowd in Paris during the insurrection of 10 August 1792.