M.-G.-A.- Vadier (1736-1828): The Formation of the Jacobin Mentality

Abstract

Within the field of French Revolutionary historiography, biography remains one of the least fashionable of the historical arts. Jacobinism, for example, has often been analyzed as an ideology, an institutional structure, a popular movement, or an expression of the class struggle.' There is still, however, a need to supplement such broadly based and sometimes overschematic studies by a consideration of the individuals who became Jacobins, of their motives, their background, and their political ideas. This study looks for the origins of Jacobinism in the roots of personal experience and attempts to understand the nature of Jacobinism from the viewpoint of one of its leading figures: Vadier. Such a study is valuable in its own right: Vadier was a high ranking Terrorist, who, as President of the Committee of General Security in the Year 2, wielded enormous powers of political police. At the same time, Vadier's own personal road to Jacobinism demonstrates some of the pitfalls in interpreting Jacobinism solely in ideological or social terms. This essay will stress the importance of Vadier's environment and of local political struggles in his radicalisation. It will suggest that Jacobinism was not a complete or consciously formed ideology by the Year 2. It was rather made up of a series of political choices (on the Revolution of May 31/June 2, on the king's execution, for instance), dictated by changing political circumstances. La force des choses, in Saint Just's