Jacques Pierre Brissot

On January 15, 1754, Jacques Pierre Brissot was born to an innkeeper. He served as a law clerk in Chartres and Paris. Later, after becoming immersed in writing, he moved to London and wed Felicite Dupont.

Being the leader of the Girondins (Brissotins), who opposed the radical-democratic Jacobins, he published numerous pamphlets critical of the monarchy and the existing government, for which he was jailed for around four months until being freed in September 1784. Along with his Black comrades, Jacques Pierre Brissot founded an organization that was anti-slavery in February 1788. On July 10, 1791, he addressed the Jacobins with a speech regarding his foreign strategy that attacked King Louis XVI's inviolability.

Following the Declaration of Pillnitz, in which Austria and Prussia forbade the French people from harming King Louis XVI, he was chosen to lead the Legislative Assembly. Due to his familiarity with international politics, he was a member of the diplomatic committee. He supported the idea that only battle could bring about the French Revolution and reveal the adversaries during that time. So, on April 20, 1792, he formally declared war on Austria. Maximilien Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins, disapproved of his views.

He was taken from Moulins by the Revolutionary tribunal and transported to Paris. On October 30, 1793, he was ultimately given a sentence.

Lifespan: January 15, 1754 – October 31, 1793