Editing French First Republic (section)

==National Convention (1792–1795)==
{{Main|National Convention}}
[[File:Coat of arms of the French First Republic.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|left|Initial armorial used by the Republic until 1794]]
{{History of France}}
As a result of the spike in public violence and the political instability of the constitutional monarchy, a party of six members of France's Legislative Assembly was assigned the task of overseeing elections. The resulting Convention was founded with the dual purpose of abolishing the monarchy and drafting a new constitution.

The convention's first act was to establish the French First Republic and officially strip the king of all political powers. [[Louis XVI]], by then a private citizen bearing his family name of [[House of Capet|Capet]], was subsequently put on trial for crimes of high treason starting in December 1792. On 16 January 1793 he was convicted, and on 21 January, he was executed.{{Sfnp|Doyle|1989|page=196}}

Throughout the winter of 1792 and spring of 1793, Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The new Convention did little to remedy the problem until late spring of 1793, occupied instead with matters of war. Finally, on 6 April 1793, the Convention created the [[Committee of Public Safety]], and was given a monumental task: "To deal with the radical movements of the [[Enragés]], food shortages and riots, the [[War in the Vendée|revolt in the Vendée]] and in [[Brittany]], recent defeats of its armies, and the desertion of its commanding general."<ref name="ReferenceA">The French Revolution [videorecording]: liberté, egalité, fraternité, a new republic is born in blood / produced & directed by Doug Shultz; written by Doug Shultz, Hilary Sio, Thomas Emil. [New York, N.Y.]: History Channel: Distributed in the U.S. by New Video, 2005.</ref>

Most notably, the Committee of Public Safety instated a policy of terror, and perceived enemies of the republic began to be executed by [[guillotine]] at an ever-increasing rate. This began a period which is known today as the [[Reign of Terror]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robespierre and the Terror {{!}} History Today |url=http://www.historytoday.com/marisa-linton/robespierre-and-terror |access-date=8 February 2018 |website=www.historytoday.com |archive-date=30 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930160214/http://www.historytoday.com/marisa-linton/robespierre-and-terror |url-status=live }}</ref>

Despite growing discontent with the National Convention as a ruling body, in June the Convention drafted the [[French Constitution of 1793|Constitution of 1793]], which was ratified by popular vote in early August. However, the Committee of Public Safety was seen as an "emergency" government, and the rights guaranteed by the 1789 ''[[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]]'' and the new constitution were suspended under its control.

The constitution of the republic did not provide for a formal head of state or a head of government.
It could be discussed whether the head of state would have been the [[president of the National Convention]] under international law. However, this changed every two weeks and was therefore not formative.