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Louis-Marie de La Revellière, dit La Revellière-Lépeaux
b. 24 Aug 1753, Montaigu, Vendée [1]
d. 27 Mar 1824, Paris |
| Title: |
Membre du Directoire exécutif de la République française (Member of the Executive Directory of the French Republic) |
| Term: |
2 Nov 1795 - 18 Jun 1799 |
| Chronology: |
31 Oct 1795, nomination of fifty candidates for election of five members of the Directoire exécutif (Executive Directory) proclaimed by the Conseil des Cinq-Cents (Council of Five Hundred); the list passed to the Conseil des Anciens (Council of Ancients) [2] |
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1 Nov 1795, election as a member of the Executive Directory proclaimed by the Council of Ancients, session of the Council, salle des Machines, Palais des Tuileries, Paris [2] |
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2 Nov 1795, Executive Directory constituted, first meeting of the Executive Directory, Palais du Luxembourg, Paris [3] |
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18 Jun 1799, letter of resignation (dated 18 Jun 1799) presented to the Council of Five Hundred and to the Council of Ancients; formal acceptance given by the Council of Five Hundred [4] |
| Names/titles: |
Baptised (25 Aug 1753): Louis-Marie de la Revellière; surname also spelled as: La Révellière; Lépeaux added to surname before 1789 (a report on his election to the États-Généraux [22 Mar 1789] refers to him as Revellière de Lépeaux); the use of the preposition de, when indicating nobility (referred to as la particule), was discontinued during the republican period [from 1792] |
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Président de la Convention nationale (President of the National Convention) (19 Jul 1795 - 3 Aug 1795) [see details]; Président du Directoire exécutif de la République française (President of the Executive Directory of the French Republic) (29 Jul 1796 - 1 Nov 1796, 24 Aug 1797 - 27 Nov 1797, 27 Nov 1798 - 25 Feb 1799) [see details] |
| Biography: |
| Educated in the University of Angers; received a degree in law; admitted to the bar as a lawyer of the Paris Parlement (1775-1776); returned to Anjou, where studied botany; elected (20 Mar 1789) as a representative of the Third Estate by the seneschality of Anjou to the États-Généraux (Estates-General); deputy of the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly) (1789-1791); elected to Convention nationale (National Convention), representing the département of Maine-et-Loire (1792-1793, 1794-1795); protested against the terror and Jacobin dictatorship; submitted his resignation as a member of the National Convention (13 Aug 1793); narrowly escaped arrest on orders (October 1793) of the Comité de sûreté générale (Committee of General Security); after the fall of Maximilien Robespierre returned to the Convention and worked on the Constitution of the Year III; elected President of the National Convention (19 Jul 1795 - 3 Aug 1795), member of the Comité de salut public (Committee of Public Safety) (1 Sep 1795 - 4 Nov 1795); elected (12 Oct 1795) to the Corps législatif by 31 départements, opted for Maine-et-Loire; selected to sit in the Conseil des Anciens (Council of Ancients) (28 Oct 1795); elected president of the Council of Ancients (28 Oct 1795 - 2 Nov 1795); elected (1 Nov 1795) one of the original members of the Directoire exécutif (Executive Directory); three times served as President of the Directory (29 Jul 1796 - 1 Nov 1796, 24 Aug 1797 - 27 Nov 1797, 27 Nov 1798 - 25 Feb 1799); was one of the instigators of the 18 Fructidor coup (4 Sep 1797) when the ultraconservatives were purged from the Corps legislatif and other posts; accused of corruption, resigned his seat in the Directory (18 Jun 1799) along with Philippe-Antoine Merlin (de Douai); retired from politics after the 18 Brumaire coup (9 Nov 1799); left Paris and devoting his time to agriculture, botany and archaeology; was not named among the regicides by the Bourbon government (1816) and was allowed to spend his last years in France.
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| Biographical sources: "Mémoires de Larevéllière-Lépeaux: suivis de pièces justificatives et de correspondances inédites" (Paris: Plon, 1895); "Revelliere-Lépeaux, citizen director, 1753-1824", by Georgia Robison (New York: Columbia University Press, 1938). |
| Elections: |
| Candidate |
Vote (1 Nov 1795) |
| Louis-Marie de La Revellière-Lépeaux |
216 |
| Étienne-François-Louis-Honoré Le Tourneur |
189 |
| Jean-François Reubell |
176 |
| Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès |
156 |
| Jean-Nicolas-Paul-François Barras |
129 |
| 45 others |
less than 129 |
| total votes cast |
218 |
|
| Source of electoral results:
Gazette nationale ou Le Moniteur universel, No. 45, 15 brumaire an IV. |
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| [1] |
La Revellière was born 24 Aug 1753 and baptised 25 Aug 1753 as is evident from his baptismal record preserved in the Archives of the Vendée département, register of baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Montaigu, 1747-1766, AC146, p. 40 (digital copy). It was also published in "Notice du patois vendéen", by Louis-Marie Revellière-Lépeaux (Paris: Niort, 1867), p. 5. |
| [2] |
Gazette nationale ou Le Moniteur universel, No. 45, 15 brumaire an IV. |
| [3] |
Recueil des Actes du Directoire exécutif, 1:1-4. |
| [4] |
Gazette nationale ou Le Moniteur universel, No. 274, 4 messidor an VII. |
