President of the National Convention
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National Convention Convention nationale |
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|---|---|
| French First Republic | |
Autel de la Convention nationale or
Autel républicain François-Léon Sicard Panthéon de Paris, France, 1913 |
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Established | 20 September 1792 |
| Disbanded | 2 November 1795 |
| Preceded by | Legislative Assembly |
| Succeeded by |
Directory Executive branch Council of Ancients (upper house) Council of Five Hundred (lower house) |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 749 |
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Political groups
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| Meeting place | |
| Tuileries Palace, Paris | |
From 22 September 1792 to 2 November 1795, the French Republic was governed by the National Convention, whose president (elected from within for a 14-day term) may be considered as France's legitimate Head of State during this period. Historians generally divide the Convention's activities into three periods, moderate, radical, and reaction, and the policies of presidents of the Convention reflect these distinctions. During the radical and reaction phases, some of the presidents were executed, most by guillotine, committed suicide, or were deported. In addition, some of the presidents were later deported during the Bourbon Restoration in 1815.
The National Convention governed France from 20 September 1792 until 26 October 1795 during the most critical period of the French Revolution. The election of the National Convention took place in September 1792 after the election of the electoral colleges by primary regional assemblies on 26 August. Owing to the abstention of aristocrats and the anti-republicans, and the general fear of victimization, the voter turnout in the departments was low – as little as 7.5 percent or as much as 11.9% of the electorate, compared to 10.2% in the 1791 elections, despite the doubling of the number of eligible voters.
Initially elected to provide a new constitution after the overthrow of the monarchy on 10 August 1792, the Convention included 749 deputies drawn from businesses and trades, and from such professions as law, journalism, medicine, and the clergy. Among its earliest acts was the formal abolition of the monarchy, through Proclamation, on 21 September, and the subsequent establishment of the Republic on 22 September. The French Republican Calendar discarded all Christian reference points and calculated time from the Republic's first full day after the monarchy – 22 September 1792, the first day of Year One.
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