National Convention and the Proclamation of the Republic
Also called: National Convention, First French Republic, Girondins, Montagnards
Elected by universal male suffrage, the National Convention abolished the monarchy at its first sitting and began counting days from “Year I of the Republic”.
Roi Boshi · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
The National Convention first met on 20 September 1792 and on 21 September unanimously abolished the monarchy. From 22 September official documents were dated “Year I of the French Republic”, and that day later became the first day of the revolutionary calendar. In December the Convention declared the Republic “one and indivisible”.
Within the Convention the Girondins, who spoke for the provincial bourgeoisie, faced the Montagnards (the Jacobins Robespierre, Danton and Marat), close to the Paris crowd, with the uncommitted Plain between them. They clashed over the king’s trial, the war and the place of Paris, and in June 1793 the Paris crowd surrounded the Convention and forced out the Girondin deputies, leaving the Montagnards in power.