Antoine Balthazar Joachim d'André

Antoine Balthazar Joachim, baron d'André (2 July 1759 – 16 July 1825) was a French royalist politician.

He was born in Aix-en-Provence on July 2, 1759.

At the onset of the French Revolution he was a conseiller at the Parliament of Aix-en-Provence. Elected by the Second Estate as a representative of the sénéchaussée of Aix-en-Provence to the Estates-General of 1789 (also elected from Aix was the comte de Mirabeau, who though he was a nobleman was elected by the Third Estate). Following the example of Philippe, duc d'Orléans, he joined the Third Estate which became the National Constituent Assembly.

He was elected president of the National Assembly three times (1–16 August 1790; 22 December 1790 – 4 January 1791; 10–27 May 1791) and he was the second most prolific speaker, addressing the Assembly on 497 occasions (only Armand-Gaston Camus spoke more frequently). He was one of the prominent partisans pressing for a constitutional monarchy, and supported the faction known as the Monarchiens. The attempted royal flight to Varennes (20–21 June 1791) caused a crisis of faith in the monarchy, and inspired him to vote with the majority to suppress the royal executive power. Along with Adrien Duport and François Denis Tronchet he was selected to conduct the interview with Louis XVI in the aftermath. After the close of session for the National Assembly he remained in Paris, where he founded a large grocery business (épicerie), for which the journalists of the Left dubbed him "l'Épicier".

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