Girondists

Girondists members of a moderate political group active during the French Revolution. The group originated in the National Assembly in 1791 and at first influenced the National Convention summoned in 1792. It was named after the Department of Gironde, a district which several of its leaders represented.

In general, the Girondists advocated a republic in which the middle classes of the provinces would have most power. Jacques Pierre Brissot (Brissot de Warville) was the chief spokesman, but many policies were formed by Jeanne Manon Roland, in whose home the Girondists gathered. Thomas Paine became a Girondist while a member of the Convention.

On June 2, 1793, the more extreme Jacobin group succeeded in having 29 Girondist deputies expelled from the Convention. Brissot, Madame Roland, and Charlotte Corday (who had assassinated the Jacobin leader Jean Paul Marat) were among the many Girondists guillotined during the Reign of Terror that followed.