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Headings: 

Content: He became
known both as a successful advocate and as a participant in local
literary and philosophic circles. He was elected as a "Third
Estate" (i.e. a Commoner rather than an Aristocratic or Clerical)
deputy of Artois to the Estates-General that convened at the
Palace of Versailles, on May 5th 1789, on the eve of the French
Revolution, and subsequently served in the National Constituent
Assembly, where his earnest and skillful oratory soon commanded
attention. As he had grown into manhood Robespierre had become a
fanatical devotee of the social theories of the French
philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. He and some thirty other
like-minded deputies became associated in a "Society of the
Friends of the Constitution" later known as the Jacobin Club. In
April 1790 he was elected president of the Jacobin Club and
became increasingly popular as an enemy of the monarchy and as an
advocate of democratic reforms. When the Constituent Assembly was
dissolved on September 30th 1791 Robespierre and another
prominent Jacobin Petion de Villeneuve were the only outgoing
deputies recognised as "incorruptible patriots" by the more
radically inclined amongst the people of Paris. Robespierre "The
Incorruptible" subsequently opposed the more moderate Girondists,
the dominant faction in the newly formed Legislative Assembly,
particularly over their support for war with Austria. In June 1791 King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette
attempted to flee from France in order to seek refuge with powers
opposed to the revolution - they were however recognised and
detained at Varennes. Robespierre had hitherto been content with
the sort of constitutional monarchy that had been in operation in
France. The King's attempted defection altered the way he was
perceived by Robespierre and others.