Saint-Just, Louis-Antoine-Léon

(1767-1794)

   political figure

   Born in Decize, Louis-Antoine-Léon Saint-Just studied at the oratian College in Reims and quite early supported the revolution of 1789, publishing a satirical poem, "Organt" (1789) and a work entitled Esprit de la Révolution et de la Constitution de France (1791), making him one of the youngest theoreticians of the French Revolution. A deputy for Aisne to the Convention (1792), he sat with the montagnards and became known for his violent views, unceasingly demanding the king's death and opposing the girondins' plan for a federalist constitution as outlined by condorcet (April 1793). A member of the Committee of Public Safety (where with maximilten robespierre and georges couthon he formed the "Triumvirate"), he devoted himself to domestic issues and organized the armies of the Rhine in taking measures against guilty officers and deserters. As president of the National Convention (February 1794), Saint-Just contributed to the strengthening of dictatorial revolutionary powers and used his authority to confiscate the property of émigrés, redistributing it to the indigent, and helped Robespierre to suppress various opposing factions (Hébertists, indulgents, Dantonists, moderates, and ultrarevolutionaries). He was arrested with Robespierre, with whom he was executed the next day (9 and 10 Thermidor Year III, July 27-28, 1794). Saint-Just's writing, Institutions républicaines, was published only after his death. A notorious figure of the Revolution, and especially of the terror (he played a major role in the conviction of georges danton), his phrases and statements were often quoted.