Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy

The convention's députés were instructed to put an end to the crisis that had broken out since the prevented flight to Varennes of Louis XVI in June 1791 and the bloody capture of the Tuileries Palace (10 August 1792).

Their middle-class origin and their political activity meant that most of them bore no sympathy for the monarchy, and the victory at the Battle of Valmy on 20 September (the revolution's first military success) occurred on the same day as their meeting, thus confirming their convictions.

When the député for Paris, Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois, proposed abolition he met with little resistance; at most, Claude Basire, friend of Georges Danton, tried to temper the enthusiasm, recommending a discussion before any decision.

The history of kings is the martyrology of nations!Jean-François Ducos supported him in affirming that any discussion would be useless "after the lights spread by 10 August".

[1] As the date of the Republic's first anniversary approached, the Convention passed a set of laws replacing many familiar ancien systems of order and measurement, including the old Christian calendar.