Title: The trial and execution of Louis XVI
Headings: The trial and execution of Louis XVI
The trial and execution of Louis XVI
Contents
Background
Trial or no trial?
The hearing begins
Louis’ defence
Guilt and sentencing
The king condemned
Responses

Content: The Convention would spend much of the next month debating the question. The September Massacres two months earlier cast a long shadow over these proceedings. Many of the Convention’s deputies had been radical democrats in the Legislative Assembly and the Jacobin club – but the wanton slaughter in early September worried these reasonable men. The revolution seemed to be moving too fast and slipping into mob rule. To put the king on trial and possibly under the guillotine may accelerate unrest and push France into anarchy or civil war. Two of the Convention’s deputies, Charles-François Morisson and Claude Fauchet, argued that the king could only be tried under the Constitution of 1791; there was no other law that applied to him. Jean-Marie Rouzet believed the king was answerable for his crimes but argued that placing him on trial was provocative, potentially disruptive and not in the national interest. In contrast, Maximilien Robespierre argued that no trial was necessary. The people had already delivered their verdict on the king, Robespierre argued, with their actions on August 10th.