Maximilien Robespierre

Colin Jones is Emeritus Professor of History at Queen Mary University of London and a Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author and editor of many books on the history of France, including The Great Nation: France 1715–99 (2002); Paris: Biography of a City (2004); The Smile Revolution in 18th-century France (2014); and The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris (2022). Stephen W. Sawyer is Ballantine-Leavitt Professor of History and Director of the Center for Critical Democracy Studies at the American University of Paris. He is the author of many books on French history and political thought including Demos Assembled: Democracy and the International Origins of the Modern State, 1840–1880 (2018) and Demos Rising: Democracy and the Popular Construction of Public Power in France, 1800–1850 (2025).

• Acknowledgements; Introduction, Chronology: Maximilien Robespierre and the French Revolution; Note on Text; Abbreviations; Further Reading; Bibliographical Information; Speeches: 1. Against the royal veto. September 1789; 2. On the national guard. Jacobin Club, 5 December 1790; 3. On the Silver Mark (marc d'argent). Jacobin Club, 20 April 1791; 4. On the liberty of the press. Jacobin Club. 11 May 1791; 5. A) On the status of free men of colour (I). Constituent assembly, 12 May 1791; B) On the same (II). 13 May, 1791; 6. On the re-election of members of the national assembly. Constituent Assembly, 16 May 1791; 7. On the death penalty. Constituent Assembly, 30 May 1791; 8. On suffrage. Constituent Assembly, 11 August 1791; 9. On the political rights of free men of colour. Jacobin Club, 24 September 1791; 10. On the rights of societies and clubs. Constituent Assembly, 29 September 1791; 11. On the war. Jacobin Club, 2 January 1792; 12. 'On the ills and resources of the state'. Jacobin Club, 29 July 1792; 13. On subsistence. National Convention, 2 December 1792; 14. First speech on the King's trial. National Convention and Jacobin Club, 3-5 December 1792; 15. Second speech on the King's trial. National Convention, 28 December 1792; 16. On the Declaration of the Rights of Man. National Convention, 24 April 1793; 17. On the constitution. Jacobin Club, 10 May 1793; 18. On the principles of revolutionary government. National Convention, 25 December 1793/5 nivôse, II; 19. On the principles of political morality. National Convention, 5 February 1794/17 pluviôse, II; 20. On religious and moral ideas and republican principles. National Convention, 7 May 1794/18 floréal, II; 21. Robespierre's final speech. National Convention, 26 July 1794/8 thermidor, II.