Thermidorian Reaction

The Thermidorian Reaction was an event in revolutionary France, and is so named because it began in the month of Thermidor on the Revolutionary Calendar (July 19 - August 17) of the year II (1794). It was a reaction to the Reign of Terror after the execution of Maximilien de Robespierre. The original Thermidorians were made up of members of the two committees (The CPS and CGS), members of the moderate party and ex-terrorists. The moderates rose to take control, and as they had benefited greatly from the Revolution, they saw no need for the return of the Monarchy. They also disliked the Jacobins.

Background

The Thermidorian Reaction was a response to the escalating bloodshed perpetrated by the Jacobin regime since the summer of 1793, in what is known as the "Reign of Terror." Directed especially by the Committee of Public Safety under Robespierre and Louis Antoine Saint-Just, the Terror had seen the suspension of many civil liberties, legitimized by the foreign coalition assembled to conquer revolutionary France and by internal rebellions in the south and in the Vendee. Arbitrary executions were common, and in some cases, especially in the anti-revolutionary and strongly Christian Vendee, a genocidal policy had been practiced to wipe out enemies of the Revolution.

Though most of the internal revolts had been suppressed by early 1794, the brutality of the Terror only accelerated, as Robespierre and his collaborators insisted enemies threatened the nation from every direction. The decree of 22 Prairial (June 10) announced that anyone denounced for anti-patriotic behavior could be brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris, which had the power only to acquit or to pass a death sentence. By July 1794, an average of 26 persons were being executed by the guillotine per day in Paris, more than three times the acquittal rate.

By now, Robespierre's policies were beginning to alienate many of his fellow Jacobins, even some on the Committee of Public Safety and Committee of General Security themselves. Most of these members had had a hand in perpetrating the Terror, and were not generally motivated by moral concerns; however, as French armies scored triumph after triumph against their foreign opponents in the 1794 military campaigns, they did feel that the emergency used to justify the Terror had passed, and feared that Robespierre was using the sweeping powers granted to the two committees to establish a dictatorship. The Festival of the Supreme Being (June 8), a ceremony to celebrate Enlightenment virtue that in some respects resembled a pagan cult, which Robespierre had presided over, only reinforced these fears. They were also increasingly terrified that Robespierre might soon have them executed, as he had done with former allies such as Georges Danton.

By late July, a loose network of anti-Robespierre Jacobins had developed. Key members included Joseph Fouché, Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois, and Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne, all of whom had been key functionaries in the Terror.

Ending the Terror

Between July 1794 and 31 May 1795 the Convention went about demolishing the machinery of the Terror. This included the abolition of the Revolutionary Tribunal, the release of all suspects from prison and the closing of the Jacobin Club. The role of the CPS and CGS was taken over by committees of the Convention to limit their power. To deal with religious issues, the Convention renounced the Constitutional Church and enforced the separation of Church and State by deciding to no longer pay clerical salaries. Freedom of worship for all religions was restored on 21 February 1795, thus formally ending the policy of de-Christianisation. France was the first major European country to declare itself entirely neutral in all matters of religion.

The Constitution of the Year III, 1795

The main features of the new constitution were:

• All males over the age of 21 who paid direct taxes were allowed to vote for electors.
• The electors chose the deputies and had to pay the equivalent of 150–200 days labour in taxes.
• The legislature was rigidly separated from the executive.

Weaknesses in the new Constitution

• Elections every year reduced stability with a high turnover of deputies.
• There was no easy method of resolving conflict between the legislature and the executive.
• If a hostile majority dominated the legislature then the Directory was paralysed as it could not dissolve the legislature or veto its laws.