Death of Jean-Paul Marat
The death of Jean-Paul Marat, a key figure of the French Revolution, occurred on July 13, 1793, when he was assassinated by Charlotte Corday. Born on May 24, 1743, in Switzerland, Marat was a physician and writer whose radical ideas and publications, particularly in his newspaper "L'Ami du Peuple," fueled the revolutionary fervor in France. He was known for his vehement criticisms of the monarchy and moderates within the revolutionary movement, which earned him both popularity and animosity. Corday, a supporter of the rival Girondist faction, sought to silence Marat, believing his violent rhetoric was detrimental to France's future. She gained access to him while he was in a bath, where she fatally stabbed him. Following his death, Marat was celebrated as a martyr by his supporters, while others viewed his passing as an opportunity for a shift away from his extreme views. This event underscored the intense political divisions of the time and marked a significant moment in the turbulent narrative of the French Revolution.
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Death of Jean-Paul Marat
Death of Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat, a French politician, physician, and writer, was assassinated by Charlotte Corday on July 13, 1793. Marat was a popular leader during the French Revolution, and his writings encouraged violence against supporters of the French king.
Marat was born on May 24, 1743, in Boudry, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Little is known of his early life. He studied medicine in Paris and eventually set up his practice in Great Britain. In the 1770s Marat also started his career as an author. His works included Essay on the Human Soul (1771); A Philosophical Essay on Man (1773), which was translated into French and published in Amsterdam (1775–76); and The Chains of Slavery (1774), an early political tract.
Marat returned to France in 1777 and was appointed physician to the personal guards of the king's youngest brother. Marat not only built up a new practice among the upper classes but also continued to work as an author and as an aspiring scientist, conducting experiments with fire, electricity, and light. One of his scientific papers was honored by the Royal Academy of Rouen in 1783. However, some of his writings were not so well received. For example, in 1780 he published Plan de Législation Criminelle (Plan for criminal law), which was very critical of the legal system and deemed subversive by the French authorities.
In the latter half of 1788, the Estates-General was summoned to meet in an effort to deal with the growing discontent among the citizenry. The country was in enormous debt from the Seven Years' War with Great Britian (1756–63), which it had lost, and from suppporting the American colonies against Britain during America's war for independence (1776–83). France's intellectuals, known as philosophes, were calling for democratic reform, and the general populace had become increasingly resentful of the privileged classes, especially the unpopular King Louis XVI and his Austrian wife, Marie Antoinette. The proposed meeting of the Estates-General, which would not take place until May 1789, galvanized Marat. In February 1789 he published a pamphlet entitled Offrand à la Patrie (Offering to our country), followed two months later by Supplement de L'Offrand à la Patrie. While Marat initially indicated that he thought the monarchy could solve France's problems, by the time he wrote the supplement he was convinced that the king was too concerned with his own financial woes to deal with the needs of the people. He also denounced those who proposed modeling France's government after Britain's.
The Estates-General, composed of representatives of France's three estates, or recognized social classes, met on May 1, 1789. A few weeks later, some members of the assembly decided to meet as a single group that represented the people, as opposed to a group divided by classes. On June 17, 1789, they declared themselves the National Assembly. When it appeared that the king would attempt to halt their efforts, they took what came to be known as the Tennis Court Oath, vowing not to disband until France had a constitution. The king backed down, but suspicions concerning his intentions ran high. These suspicions played a role in motivating a Paris mob to storm the Bastille on July 14 of that year.
In September 1789 Marat started a newspaper called L'Ami du Peuple (The friend of the people) that would become very popular. From 1789 to 1793 he would produce over 900 issues in which he would attack those he felt were trying to slow or stop the progress of the revolution. No one was immune from criticism—not the aristocracy, and not even leaders of the revolution itself, if Marat saw them as moderates. His writings helped fuel the violence of this troubled time. At least once Marat was forced to flee to Britain for his own safety, but even then he continued to write and proclaim his views. His paper was often taken to be the voice of the masses.
In September 1792 Marat was elected a delegate to the National Convention. His popularity with the people continued, particularly in Paris, making him a powerful and influential figure in the convention. Even so, his views were seen as dangerously radical by some, and the moderate Girondist faction of the convention had him brought up on charges before a revolutionary tribunal. On April 24, 1793, Marat was acquitted and escaped the guillotine. However, on July 13, 1793, a Girondist supporter named Charlotte Corday visited Marat saying she had a message for him. Marat was sitting in a bathtub with a board across the top, trying to relieve a painful eczema while he worked on some papers, when Corday entered the room. She stabbed him in the heart. She was executed for the crime and he was given a hero's funeral, but many were secretly glad that he was gone from the political scene.