Louis-Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux

French First Republic state institutions Liberalism and republicanism 1753–1824 ○ Natural causes

Director who fought the Catholic Church and promoted theophilanthropy

Born at Montaigu in the Vendée in 1753, he studied law at Angers and Paris and was called to the bar in 1775. Elected to the Estates-General in 1789 and returned to the National Convention for Maine-et-Loire in 1792, he proposed the decree by which France offered help to foreign peoples fighting for liberty. He voted for the death of Louis XVI but kept his distance from the extremists, was proscribed with the Girondins in 1793 and hid until 9 Thermidor. After serving as president of the Convention in July 1795 he headed the list of elected Directors and became president of the Directory. Allied with Reubell against Carnot, he took part in the coup of 18 Fructidor in 1797 and sought to replace Christianity with theophilanthropy. Forced to resign by the coup of 30 Prairial in 1799, he took no further part in public affairs and died in Paris in 1824.