Rising in his support, Robespierre sputtered and lost his voice; his brother Throughout his political career, Saint-Just continued to work on books and essays about the meaning of the Revolution, but he did not survive to see any of them published.
They were published as a single volume, Saint-Just also composed a lengthy draft of his philosophical views, Based on the assumption that man is a social animal, Saint-Just argues that in nature there is no need for contracts, legislation, or acts of force.Saint-Just's rise to power wrought a remarkable change in his personality.In his public speaking, Saint-Just was even more daring and outspoken than his mentor Robespierre.
He did not linger there and later spoke of it in tones of disillusionment.Saint-Just realized that he could play the role to which he aspired in the Revolution only by election to a key post as an administrator or, preferably, as a deputy. Even if he wanted to see it implemented, emergency measures for wartime were in effect, and those measures called for (or provided cover for) a moratorium on constitutional democracy. However, there was little time to celebrate.
He had two younger sisters, born in 1768 and 1769. Sobered by his experience, he decided, like so many young men of the middle class, to establish himself and enter upon a career.
He prepared death sentences for the centrist deputy His restive nature, however, did not diminish.
Within a few months he was the commanding officer, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.While Saint-Just waited for the next election, he composed an extensive work, The new work, like its predecessor, attracted minimal readership.
Neither a Parisian nor a popular orator nor a leader of men, he was also not inclined to approve of slaughter.
Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just (1767 – 1794) was a military and political leader during the French Revolution and one of the leaders of the Reign of Terror.
Louis Antoine de Saint-Just was born at Decize in the former Nivernais province of central France.
Professor of History, University of Paris. Their deaths caused deep resentment in the Convention, and their absence only made it more difficult for the Jacobins to influence the dangerously unpredictable masses of As the deliverer of Committee reports, Saint-Just served as the public face of the Terror, and later writers dubbed him the "Angel of Death".The Revolutionary army was still in a defensive posture, and Saint-Just was sent back to Belgium to help prepare for the coming conflict.After returning to Paris, Saint-Just discovered that Robespierre's political position had degraded significantly.
He did not speak of the storming of the But first he had to overcome the handicap of his youth and the opposition of local cliques.
The notary Gellé, previously an undisputed town leader, was challenged by a group of reformists who were led by several of Saint-Just's friends, including the husband of his sister Louise.He immediately exhibited the ruthless disciplinarianism for which he would be famous. Search Britannica Amid the uproar, recalled Saint-Just saved his dignity at the lectern but not his life. He was quickly sent back to the front lines, this time in With the republican army advancing and the Girondins destroyed, the left-wing Montagnards, led by the Jacobins and Robespierre, controlled the Convention.
Robespierre, with Saint-Just's assistance, fought vigorously to ensure that the government would remain under emergency measures—"revolutionary"—until victory.During the time that Saint-Just was working on the constitution, dramatic political warfare was taking place. This sojourn in the provinces directed his thinking while straining his energies.Upon his return to the Convention, in year II of the But his rise to power had wrought a remarkable change in Saint-Just’s public personality. Like Robespierre, he did not try to incite the Parisian sansculottes to rise against the Convention in his defense and was guillotined the next day.Saint-Just has, by turns, been lauded as the archangel of the Revolution or Many of his contemporaries acknowledged his ability but considered him a monster of pride and cruelty.
In 1789 Saint-Just anonymously published his first book, an epic poem, In the midst of the Revolutionary upheaval, Saint-Just, eager to participate, found himself ignored.
Wartime gave supreme power to the sitting Convention, with the Committee of Public Safety at the top of its administrative pyramid.
As the Terror reached its apogee – the so-called "Great Terror"—the danger of a counterstrike by his enemies became almost inevitable.With political combat reaching a fever pitch, the Committee introduced a bill to establish a newer version of the "Law of Suspects"—the The Law of Prairial was the breaking point for opponents of Robespierre.On the dais, Saint-Just declared the absolute necessity of current law, and conspiring deputies buzzed angrily as he spoke. This other Saint-Just appears in the famous portraits of
Hébert and his closest associates were arrested the following day.The ongoing political combat—bloody enough since at least the time of the arrest of the Girondins to be known as the Danton’s criticism of the Terror won him some support,The violent removal of the Hébertists and Dantonists provided only a mirage of stability.
The In its secret negotiations, the Committee of Public Safety was initially unable to form a consensus concerning the jailed deputies, but as some Girondins fled to the provinces and attempted to incite an insurrection, its opinion hardened.Saint-Just proposed that deputies from the Convention should directly oversee all military efforts, which was approved on 10 October 1793.Among soldiers and civilians alike, Saint-Just repressed opponents of the Revolution, but he did not agree to the mass executions ordered by some of the other deputies on the mission.With the army revitalized, Saint-Just returned briefly to Paris where his success was applauded.