Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne

Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne (November 14, 1743 - December 5, 1793) was a French revolutionary.Infobox biography
name = Jean-Paul Rabaut de Saint-Étienne


imagesize = 235
caption =
office = Deputy for the Third Estate of the Estates-General
surname =
birth_date = date|14 November 1743
birth_place = Nîmes
death_date = date|5 December 1793
age_at_death = 76
death_place = Paris
nationality = France
profession = Politician and Calvinist minister
religion = Calvinism

Biography

Rabaut de Saint-Étienne was born at Nîmes, the son of Paul Rabaut, the additional surname of Saint-Étienne taken from a small property near Nîmes.

Like his father, he became a Calvinist pastor, and distinguished himself with his zeal for his co-religionists, working energetically to obtain the recognition of the civil rights which had been granted to them by Louis XVI in 1788. Having gained a reputation with his "Histoire primitive de la Grèce", he was elected deputy to the States General in 1789 by the third estate of the "bailliage" of Nîmes.

In the Constituent Assembly, Rabaut de Saint-Étienne worked on the framing of the constitution; he spoke against the establishment of the Republic, which he considered ridiculous; and voted for the suspensive veto, as likely to strengthen the position of the Crown. In the Convention, he sat among the Girondists, opposed the trial of Louis XVI, was a member of the commission of twelve, and was proscribed with his party.

He remained in hiding for some time, but he was ultimately discovered and guillotined in the December 1793.

References