Jean-François Reubell

French First Republic state institutions Liberalism and republicanism 1747–1807 ○ Natural causes

Alsatian Director who drove the annexation of the left bank of the Rhine and the Directory's foreign policy

Born at Colmar in 1747, he was president of the local order of lawyers and in 1789 was elected to the Estates-General for the Third Estate. In the Constituent Assembly he joined the Jacobin Club and presided over it in February and March 1791, but after the flight to Varennes he went over to the Feuillants; he opposed citizenship rights for Alsatian Jews. Elected to the National Convention in 1792, he advocated annexations as envoy to the Rhineland, joined the Thermidorian Reaction and then sat on the reorganised Committees of Public Safety and General Security. He became a Director in November 1795, helped carry out the coup of 18 Fructidor in 1797 and pursued the annexation of the left bank of the Rhine and the southern Low Countries the creation of the Helvetic Republic. Retired by ballot in 1799, he left public life after 18 Brumaire and died at Colmar in 1807.

Also known as: Jean-François Rewbell