structural:expansion, linguistic:translation, structural:reformatting, structural:summarization, structural:scholar_edition
April 1793

On 6 April, the Committee of Public Safety was installed on the proposal of Maximin Isnard, supported by Georges Danton. The Committee was composed of nine deputies from the Plaine and the Dantonists, but no Girondins or Robespierrists. As one of the first acts of the Committee, Marat, president of the Jacobin club, called for the expulsion of twenty-two Girondins. Robespierre, who was not elected, was pessimistic about the prospects of parliamentary action and told the Jacobins that it was necessary to raise an army of sans-culottes to defend Paris and arrest disloyal deputies. There were only two parties according to Robespierre: the people and their enemies. On 10 April, Robespierre accused Dumouriez in a speech: "He and his supporters have brought a fatal blow to the public fortune, preventing circulation of assignats in Belgium". Robespierre's speeches during April 1793 reflect the growing radicalisation. "I ask the sections to raise an army large enough to form the kernel of a Revolutionary Army that will draw all the sans-culottes from the departments to exterminate the rebels..." Suspecting further treason, Robespierre invited the Convention to vote the death penalty against anyone who would propose negotiating with the enemy. Marat was imprisoned calling for a military tribunal as well as the suspension of the Convention. On 15 April, the Convention was stormed again by the people from the sections, demanding the removal of those Girondins who had defended the King. Until 17 April, the Convention discussed the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1793, a political document that preceded the first republican constitution of 1793. On 18 April, the Commune announced an insurrection against the Convention after the arrest of Marat. On 19 April, Robespierre opposed article 7 on equality before the law; on 22 April, the Convention discussed article 29 on the right of resistance. On 24 April, Robespierre presented his version with four articles on the right of property. He was in effect questioning the individual right of ownership, and advocated a progressive tax and fraternity between the people of all the nations. Robespierre declared himself against the agrarian law.