Author of the Le Chapelier Law banning guilds and workers’ combinations
On 14 June 1791 the law he moved was adopted, banning guilds and forbidding workers or employers of the same trade to combine for their common interests.
A lawyer from Rennes, he was elected to the Estates-General for the Third Estate in 1789, helped found the Breton Club, and as president of the Constituent Assembly in August 1789 presided over the night session of 4 August that abolished feudalism. On the constitutional committee he drafted much of the 1791 Constitution. The law bearing his name, adopted on 14 June 1791, banned guilds and workers’ combinations, a prohibition that lasted until 1864. In September 1791 he also presented a law restricting concerted political action by popular societies. Suspected during the Terror for his Feuillant ties, he was guillotined on 22 April 1794.
Career timeline
- 1789Elected to the Estates-General for the Third Estate of the sénéchaussée of Rennes; a founder of the Breton Club.
- 1789As president of the Constituent Assembly in August he presided over the night of 4 August; joined the constitutional committee in late September.
- 1791The Le Chapelier Law was adopted on 14 June; after the Champ de Mars massacre in July he left the Jacobins for the Feuillants.
- 1791Carried a law of 30 September restricting concerted political action by popular societies.
- 1794Arrested, he was guillotined in Paris on 22 April.
Feuillant politician and advocate of judicial reform
One third of the triumvirate of which the Assembly said, “What Duport thinks, Barnave says, Lameth does”, he led the 1791 Feuillant split, arguing the Revolution was over and the constitutional order should be stabilised.
A magistrate and National Assembly deputy, Duport promoted jury trial and criminal-justice reform. He formed the “triumvirate” with Barnave and Lameth and helped organize the Feuillants in 1791. After the monarchy fell in 1792 he went into exile and died in Switzerland.
Career timeline
- 1778Admitted as an advocate in the Parlement de Paris, and appointed a councillor in that same parlement, remaining in office until 1790.
- 1787–1788Founded the "Parti des nationaux" in 1787, demanding that the Estates-General be convened, and in 1788 organised the Société des Trente against the distinction between the three orders.
- 1789Elected deputy for the Paris nobility to the Estates-General on 13 May; in late June joined the Third Estate among the 47 liberal nobles.
- 1789–1791Formed the "triumvirate" with Barnave and Alexandre de Lameth in the Constituent Assembly, and as rapporteur of the criminal jurisprudence committee advanced the reform of the judiciary (report of 29 March 1790) and the introduction of the jury (8 February 1791); presided over the Assembly from 14 to 26 February 1791.
- 1791Led the Feuillant split in July, was the chief architect of the decree of 27 September granting full emancipation to the Jews, and took part in the 24 September revocation of the rights of free men of colour.
- 1792After the fall of the monarchy on 10 August he left his post as president of the criminal tribunal of the Seine, was arrested, then released and fled into exile via England and Switzerland.
- 1798Forced abroad again after the 18 Fructidor coup (4 September 1797), he died of tuberculosis at Gais in Switzerland.
Leading Feuillant orator who sought to preserve constitutional monarchy
On 15 July 1791 he defended the king’s inviolability: “Are we going to end the Revolution, or begin it again?” One step further, he warned, would destroy the monarchy, and one step further toward equality would destroy property.
A Third Estate deputy and leading National Assembly orator, he formed the “triumvirate” with Duport and Lameth. After the Flight to Varennes he helped lead the Feuillants in defence of constitutional monarchy and secretly advised the royal family. Papers revealing those contacts contributed to his conviction and execution.
Career timeline
- 1789Elected deputy of the Third Estate for Grenoble to the Estates-General; defended the union of the orders and voting by head.
- 1790Elected president of the Constituent National Assembly; became mayor of Grenoble the same year.
- 1791Escorted the royal family from Varennes to Paris, then helped form the Feuillants and defended the king’s inviolability.
- 1792–1793Denounced in August 1792; imprisoned at Grenoble and Fort Barraux, condemned for treason by the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed in Paris in November 1793.
French Revolutionary Wars general, royalist conspirator
In February 1794 he took command of the Army of the North and fought at Fleurus; crossing the frozen rivers in the winter of December 1794–January 1795, he entered Utrecht and Amsterdam, while French hussars captured the Dutch fleet over the ice.
French general of the Revolutionary Wars. In the Flanders campaign he overran the Austrian Netherlands and the Dutch Republic, then fought on the Rhine front; he later adopted Royalist positions, was deported to Cayenne after the Coup of 18 Fructidor (1797), escaped to exile in London and served on Korsakov's staff in 1799. He returned to France, was arrested in the royalist conspiracy against Napoleon, and was found dead in prison in April 1804.
Career timeline
- 1783Entered the 1st artillery regiment; briefly served in the American Revolutionary War
- 1793Promoted brigade general, then divisional general and given command of the Army of the Rhine
- 1794Took command of the Army of the North; led the Flanders and Netherlands campaign
- 1795Crushed the 12 Germinal insurrection and was titled 'Saviour of the Fatherland'
- 1797Became a member of the Council of Five Hundred; arrested at 18 Fructidor and deported to Cayenne
- 1799Served on Korsakov's staff
- 1804Arrested in the royalist conspiracy and found dead in prison
