Robespierre and the French Revolution
Maximilien Robespierre, in the opinion of some, could be referred to as a victim of his own success. As a member of the Committee of Public Safety, he was responsible for many of the new laws being put into affect in Revolutionary France. Robespierre's benevolent purpose, to have a government that all people were equally represented and treated by the government, as stated in the third article in the Rights on Man as, "The Principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed from the nation", (Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1789), would ultimately be his demise. Over time, Robespierre's ideals changed and his need for power became a stepping-stone that the French nation would have to overcome. Robespierre successfully helped create a government for the common man, and raised the spirits of those same people but after time passed, his greed and power clouded his judgment and changed his motives.In 1789, the National Assembly of France created a document very much similar to the American Constitution, "The Declaration of the Rights of Man". These seventeen articles defined how each member of the nation of France would become a free man. By givin
Robespierre's papers, "The Cult of the Supreme Being" and "Principle of Political Morality", gave the Frenchman the much-needed sense of security in the way that the new rule was going to govern. He had given the common man this sense with lines like: "He created the universe to proclaim His power. He created men to help each other, to love each other mutually, and to attain to happiness by the way of virtue", (The Cult of the Supreme Being, 1793). With this the common man believed that the representatives in government thought of the rest of the public as equals. Robespierre also bolstered the public by letting them know that fighting for this greater cause would give them true divinity. The citizens began to feel a great sense of pride in the outcome of this bloody revolution. Removing the Royalty and instituting a republican government was what this budding nation had needed. By February 5, 1794, Robespierre had more than five thousand people imprisoned awaiting trial. Robespierre, like the monarchy before him, had put himself above the law. He had become judge and jury, sentencing people to their death for contradicting the popular beliefs. By July of 1794, Robespierre himself was imprisoned for his abuse of the French public and violations of his own "Rights of Man". Later that month, he would be beheaded for the same violation. The protection of these new laws allowed the nation to construct a government that, like th
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Approximate Word count = 969
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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