23 Messidor
An CCXXXIV
André Amar
André Amar was a leading member of the Committee of General Security, the committee that organized the machinery of terror during the Reign of Terror. This powerful body supervised the surveillance committees, directed the political police and could send suspects before the Revolutionary Tribunal. Amar was a convinced revolutionary and an atheist. The fact that he did not believe in God made him suspect in the eyes of Robespierre, who held a similar position in the Committee of Public Safety. On 9 Thermidor, Amar took part in the fall of the Incorruptible. But he had not intended to bring the Terror to an end at the same time — and he had to pay for it. Amar was persecuted by the Thermidorians and, during the Directory, arrested several times. In the end, André Amar renounced politics and devoted himself to mysticism.
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1755 - 1816
- May 1, 1755 · Born in Grenoble as the son of wealthy parents.
- 1774 · Amar becomes a lawyer in Grenoble.
- September 1792 · Elected deputy for the department of Isère to the National Convention.
- June 16, 1793 · Elected to the Committee of General Security, responsible for police and justice.
- October 3, 1793 · In the name of the Committee of General Security, Amar secures before the Convention the indictment of 43 Girondins before the Revolutionary Tribunal, as well as the arrest of 73 deputies who had protested the exclusion of the Girondins.
- October 30, 1793 · Amar argues in the Convention that women should not interfere in politics. The Convention then decrees the ban on women's clubs.
- January 12, 1794 · Amar secures the arrest of Fabre d'Églantine in the Committee of General Security, a close friend of Danton.
- March 30, 1794 · The Committee of General Security and the Committee of Public Safety decide on Danton's arrest. Amar also signs the arrest warrant.
- May 1794 · Amar falls out with Robespierre, who has set up his own police bureau within the Committee of Public Safety.
- July 27, 1794 · Amar takes part in the fall of Robespierre.
- April 2, 1795 · Arrested for his involvement in the Germinal uprising.
- November 6, 1795 · Foundation of the Panthéon Club, which Amar later joins. Some members will later join the Conspiracy of the Equals around Gracchus Babeuf.
- May 26, 1797 · Amar is acquitted as co-defendant in the trial of the Babeuf conspirators. He withdraws from politics.
- December 21, 1816 · Died in Paris at the age of 61.
Quotes
We therefore believe that a woman should not step out of her family in order to meddle in the affairs of government.
Amar, in justification of the law banning women’s political societies, 30 October 1793.
That will suit you well.
Amar to Fouquier-Tinville, the Public Prosecutor, as he handed him the Convention’s decree on the possible exclusion of defendants. This allowed the court to conclude the trial against Danton in the committees’ interest.
A horde of rascals favored by Amar and Jagot.
Robespierre in his final speech to the Convention on 8 Thermidor (26 July 1794), referring to the officials of the Committee of General Security.
Le Moniteur
Signatures of members of the Committee of General Security and the Committee of Public Safety on the arrest warrant against Danton, 30 March 1794. At the bottom left, Amar's signature.
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