Concept
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (maksimiljɛ̃ ʁɔbɛspjɛʁ; 6 May 1758 – 9 Thermidor, Year II [28 July 1794]) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the most widely known, influential, and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Estates-General, the Constituent Assembly, and the Jacobin Club, he campaigned for the right to vote of all men, especially for the excluded passive citizen and for the abolition of the death penalty in times of peace and the abolition of Atlantic slave trade. In 1791, Robespierre was elected as "public accuser" and became an outspoken advocate for male citizens without a political voice, for their unrestricted admission to the National Guard, to public offices, and to the commissioned ranks of the army, for the right to petition and the right to bear arms in self defence. Robespierre played an important part in the agitation which brought about the fall of the French monarchy on 10 August 1792 and the convocation of the National Convention. His goal was to create a one and indivisible France, establish equality before the law, abolish prerogatives, and defend the principles of direct democracy. Originally a lawyer, he became involved with politics as one of the representatives of the Estates-General in 1789. As one of the leading members of the Paris Commune, Robespierre was elected as a deputy to the French Convention in early September 1792 but was soon criticised for trying to establish either a triumvirate or a dictatorship. In April 1793, Robespierre urged the Jacobins to raise a sans-culotte army to enforce revolutionary laws and sweep away any counter-revolutionary conspirator, leading to the armed Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793. Because of his health, Robespierre announced he was to resign but on 27 July he was appointed as a member of the powerful Committee of Public Safety. This allowed him to successfully promote a reorganisation of the Revolutionary Tribunal, a war cabinet, and worship of a Supreme Being.
