Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror: Was It Justified?
The Reign of Terror started in 1789 and was a time when supporters of the French Revolution ran wild and started killing non-supporters or counterrevolutionaries. The French held a ceremony if you will, in Paris for the execution of King Louis XVI on January 21, 1793. This was because Louis was having financial, and harvest issues. In June of 1789 King Louis called the Estates Meeting to discuss taxes and money problems. Then some men disliked what Louis was talking about so they stormed out and filed into a tennis court, and vowed not to leave until they created a new constitution. On August 26 “The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” was signed and put into action. Not everyone was in favor of this new constitution though. Neighboring countries and the catholic church disliked it because they feared a spread of a revolution and they lost power/property. To deal with their opposition of the “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” they wanted to become more “radical”. They were led by chief-prosecutor Robespierre, who found King Louis XVI guilty of crimes against state/treason, and was executed (Doc A), therefore connecting all of these events. Although it helped the government by getting rid of Louis XVI, The Reign of Terror was unjustified because it took away freedom of speech, religion, and killed thousands of people.
The Reign of Terror completely took away your freedom of speech if you weren’t for Robespierre and the French Revolution. When Robespierre took over and created the Committee of Public Safety, he laid down the law, and hard. Robespierre and the National Convention created watch committees in every neighborhood to expel any foreigners suspected of counterrevolutionary activities (Doc E). The whole purpose of this was to “protect the public safety” when really even if they were counterrevolutionaries they probably wouldn’t speak out because they would get their head chopped off anyway.
The Reign of Terror started in 1789 and was a time when supporters of the French Revolution ran wild and started killing non-supporters or counterrevolutionaries. The French held a ceremony if you will, in Paris for the execution of King Louis XVI on January 21, 1793. This was because Louis was having financial, and harvest issues. In June of 1789 King Louis called the Estates Meeting to discuss taxes and money problems. Then some men disliked what Louis was talking about so they stormed out and filed into a tennis court, and vowed not to leave until they created a new constitution. On August 26 “The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” was signed and put into action. Not everyone was in favor of this new constitution though. Neighboring countries and the catholic church disliked it because they feared a spread of a revolution and they lost power/property. To deal with their opposition of the “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” they wanted to become more “radical”. They were led by chief-prosecutor Robespierre, who found King Louis XVI guilty of crimes against state/treason, and was executed (Doc A), therefore connecting all of these events. Although it helped the government by getting rid of Louis XVI, The Reign of Terror was unjustified because it took away freedom of speech, religion, and killed thousands of people.
The Reign of Terror completely took away your freedom of speech if you weren’t for Robespierre and the French Revolution. When Robespierre took over and created the Committee of Public Safety, he laid down the law, and hard. Robespierre and the National Convention created watch committees in every neighborhood to expel any foreigners suspected of counterrevolutionary activities (Doc E). The whole purpose of this was to “protect the public safety” when really even if they were counterrevolutionaries they probably wouldn’t speak out because they would get their head chopped off anyway.