2012 Republican National Convention

75px 2012 Presidential Election
The Tampa Bay Times Forum will host the 2012 Republican National Convention
Convention
Date(s)	August 27, 2012 – August 30, 2012
City	Tampa, Florida
Venue	Tampa Bay Times Forum
Notable Speakers	TBD
Candidates
Presidential Nominee	Mitt Romney (presumptive)
Vice Presidential Nominee	TBD
Voting
Total Delegates	2,286[1]
Votes Needed for Nomination	1,144[2] (50% + 1 of total)
Results (President)	TBD
Results (Vice President)	TBD
Ballots	TBD
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The United States 2012 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the Republican Party will choose the party's nominees for President and Vice President, will be held during the week of August 27, 2012, in Tampa, Florida^[3] at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. As of May, 29, 2012, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has enough delegates to clinch the presidential nomination.

Host selection[link]

On August 14, 2009, the Republican National Committee named a 13 person Site Selection Committee to start the process of selecting a host city for the 2012 convention.^[4]

News reports in early 2010 indicated that Tampa as well as Salt Lake City, Utah, and Phoenix, Arizona, had been selected as finalist candidates for the convention site.^[3][5][6] The decision was announced on May 12, 2010, when Tampa was selected as the host city.^[7]

Host committee[link]

The 2012 Tampa Bay Host Committee is the official and federally designated Presidential Convention host committee for the 2012 Republican National Convention. ^[8] The Host Committee is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation organized to fund, manage and implement various functions in connection with the 2012 RNC Convention. The Host Committee is charged with raising $55,000,000 to pay for nearly all aspects of the Convention. The Host Committee is composed of prominent Florida business executives, civic leaders and other community leaders. The Host Committee is chaired by Al Austin and Ken Jones serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer. ^{[9] [10]}

Policing[link]

The convention is designated as a National Special Security Event, which means that ultimate authority over law enforcement goes to the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security. Convention security is funded—in the amount of $50 million^[11] —by a federal allocation. Much of the money goes to deputizing additional police. Other expenses include expanded surveillance technology and the purchase of a $296,496 armored SWAT vehicle.^[12][13] Tampa Bay has disclosed specifically that it has spent $1.18m on video linkages between ground police and helicopters.^[14][15][16]

Tampa police are still deciding how to cordon off areas of the city to maintain tourism while keeping protests limited. Police Chief Jane Castor has stated that although Harbour Island will not be off-limits to non-residents, "there will be some checkpoints."^[17] The city has announced an estimated force of between 3000 and 4000 officers on each day of the convention.^[18]

Impact[link]

The city has already planned to cancel all trials occurring during the week of the convention, due to concerns about jurors moving in and out of the city. Various government operations will move to nearby suburban areas. One exception to this trend is predicted trials for arrested protesters, which will be presided over by "on-call judges." City officials say they are planning on fencing off some government buildings, but that it is the responsibility of businesses to defend their own buildings.^[19]

Protests[link]

In October 2011, Tampa city officials began planning for anticipated protests, and discussions centered around small prior protests by the Occupy movement. According to former Tampa City Council member John Dingfelder, then the senior staff attorney for the mid-Florida office of the American Civil Liberties Union, the convention should expect to draw far more protestors and the city should plan on up to 10,000 protestors. Dingfelder encouraged the city to be proactive regarding where protests could occur and protestors could sleep. Tampa's Mayor Bob Buckhorn's response was "If they want a place to sleep, they can go home or to a hotel," "Just because they want to occupy something doesn't mean we are obligated to provide them with an opportunity to camp out in a public park or on a sidewalk."^[20]

Nominations[link]

Presumptive nominees[link]

Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, clinched the Republican presidential nomination in the Texas primary on May 29, 2012 and became the party's presumptive nominee. ^[21]

Delegate counts[link]

President[link]

The traditional roll call of the states, which will will permit the state leaders to promote their homes, will take place on the penultimate day of the convention.

Republican Primaries by plurality in state delegations

Mitt Romney (32)   Rick Santorum (6)

Newt Gingrich (2)   Ron Paul (2)

To have a speech formally putting his or her name in nomination, a candidate has to show a plurality of delegates in five (5) delegations as § 40(b) of the rules of the Republican Party adopted by the last convention specifies:

"Each candidate for nomination for President of the United States and Vice President of the United States shall demonstrate the support of a plurality of the delegates from each of five (5) or more states, severally, prior to the presentation of the name of that candidate for nomination."

By June 1, this requirement had only been meet by two candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich each have plurality in only two states; but Paul is still running an active campaign to secure plurality in additional states.

Vice President[link]

Since 1992, all Vice Presidential choices have been announced prior to the convention, and since four years prior to that, a rule permitting a nomination by voice vote has been in effect.

See also[link]

• 2012 Democratic National Convention
• 2012 Libertarian National Convention
• Republican National Convention
• Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2012
• United States presidential nominating convention

References[link]

External links[link]

• 2012 Republican National Convention official website
• 2012 Tampa Bay Host Committee official website
• Rules for the 2012 Republican National Convention.

v t e Republican Party Chairpersons of the RNC Morgan Raymond Ward Claflin Morgan Chandler Cameron Jewell Sabin Jones Quay Clarkson Carter Hanna Payne Cortelyou New Hitchcock Hill Rosewater Hilles Wilcox Hays Adams Butler Work Huston Fess Sanders Fletcher Hamilton Martin Walsh Spangler Brownell Reece Scott Gabrielson Summerfield Roberts Hall Alcorn T. B. Morton Miller Burch Bliss R. Morton Dole Bush Smith Brock Richards Fahrenkopf Atwater Yeutter Bond Barbour Nicholson Gilmore Racicot Gillespie Mehlman Martinez Duncan Steele Priebus Presidential tickets Frémont/Dayton Lincoln/Hamlin Lincoln/Johnson Grant/Colfax Grant/Wilson Hayes/Wheeler Garfield/Arthur Blaine/Logan Harrison/Morton Harrison/Reid McKinley/Hobart McKinley/Roosevelt Roosevelt/Fairbanks Taft/Sherman Taft/Sherman/Butler Hughes/Fairbanks Harding/Coolidge Coolidge/Dawes Hoover/Curtis (twice) Landon/Knox Willkie/McNary Dewey/Bricker Dewey/Warren Eisenhower/Nixon (twice) Nixon/Lodge Goldwater/Miller Nixon/Agnew (twice) Ford/Dole Reagan/G. H. W. Bush (twice) G. H. W. Bush/Quayle (twice) Dole/Kemp G. W. Bush/Cheney (twice) McCain/Palin Romney/TBD (presumptive) Parties by state and territory State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Territory District of Columbia Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Conventions (List) 1856 (Philadelphia) 1860 (Chicago) 1864 (Baltimore) 1868 (Chicago) 1872 (Philadelphia) 1876 (Cincinnati) 1880 (Chicago) 1884 (Chicago) 1888 (Chicago) 1892 (Minneapolis) 1896 (Saint Louis) 1900 (Philadelphia) 1904 (Chicago) 1908 (Chicago) 1912 (Chicago) 1916 (Chicago) 1920 (Chicago) 1924 (Cleveland) 1928 (Kansas City) 1932 (Chicago) 1936 (Cleveland) 1940 (Philadelphia) 1944 (Chicago) 1948 (Philadelphia) 1952 (Chicago) 1956 (San Francisco) 1960 (Chicago) 1964 (San Francisco) 1968 (Miami Beach) 1972 (Miami Beach) 1976 (Kansas City) 1980 (Detroit) 1984 (Dallas) 1988 (New Orleans) 1992 (Houston) 1996 (San Diego) 2000 (Philadelphia) 2004 (New York) 2008 (St. Paul) 2012 (Tampa) Affiliated organizations College Republicans Congressional Hispanic Conference International Democrat Union Log Cabin Republicans National Republican Congressional Committee National Republican Senatorial Committee Republican Conference of the United States House of Representatives Republican Conference of the United States Senate Republican Governors Association Republican Jewish Coalition Republican Liberty Caucus Republican Main Street Partnership Republican Majority for Choice Republican National Coalition for Life Republican National Hispanic Assembly Republican Study Committee Republicans Abroad Republicans for Environmental Protection The Ripon Society Teenage Republicans The Wish List Young Republicans Related articles History 2009 chairmanship election 2011 chairmanship election Bibliography Timeline of modern American conservatism Conservatism Portal

The Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S. presidential election, and to adopt the party platform and rules for the election cycle.

Like the Democratic National Convention, it signifies the end of a presidential primary season and the start of campaigning for a general election. In recent years, the nominee has been known well before the convention, leading many to oppose the convention as a mere public relations event and coronation.

Historically, the convention was the final determinant of the nomination, and often contentious as various factions of party insiders maneuvered to advance their candidates. Since the almost universal adoption of the primary election for selecting delegates in the last quarter of the 20th century, however, the convention's significance has diminished. The national party focuses on the convention as a unity point to bring together a party platform and state parties.

The 2012 Republican National Convention will be held in Tampa, Florida, starting on August 27, 2012.

Delegations[link]

The size of delegations to the Republican National Convention are determined by Rule 13 of the party’s national rules, which as of 2008 indicate the following:^[1]

1. Ten delegates at large from each of the fifty states.
2. The national committeeman, the national committeewoman and the chairman of the state Republican Party of each state, American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
3. Three district delegates for each member of the United States House of Representatives from each state, sixteen from D.C., twenty from Puerto Rico, and six each from American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
4. From each state having cast at least a majority of its Electoral College votes for the Republican nominee in the preceding presidential election, four and one-half delegates at large plus a number of the delegates at large equal to 60 percent of the number of electoral votes of that state, rounding any fraction upwards.
5. One additional delegate at large to each state for any and each of the following public officials who is a member of the Republican Party elected in the year of the last preceding presidential election or at any subsequent election held prior to January 1 of the year in which the next national convention is held (this provision rewards those states where the state GOP has been successful in electing candidates):
   1. Governor
   2. At least half of the state's representatives in the United States House of Representatives
   3. A majority of members of any chamber of the state legislature, if also presided over by a Republican
   4. A majority of members of all chambers of the state legislature, if also presided over by a Republican
   5. Any and each Republican United States Senator elected by such state in the six-year period prior to January 1 of the year in which the next national convention is held.
6. In addition, if the District of Columbia shall have cast its electoral votes, or a majority thereof, for the Republican nominee for President of the United States in the last preceding presidential election, it shall be permitted four and one half delegates at large plus the number of delegates at large equal to thirty percent (30%) of the 16 delegates at large allotted to the District of Columbia, rounding any fraction upward.

One alternate delegate is also awarded for each regular delegate except for members of the Republican National Committee.

The composition of the individual state and territory delegations is determined by the bylaws of their respective state and territory parties. Since 1972, almost all have appointed delegates by primary election results, although some, notably Iowa, use caucuses, and others combine the primary with caucuses or with delegates elected at a state convention.

In the past, competing factions of a state party sometimes drew up separate lists of delegates, each claiming to be the official one. One of the first agenda items at a convention is therefore credentialing, whereby the Credentials Committee determines which group is recognized as the official delegation.

Calculation Example[link]

To show the calculation of a state's delegation, the following example shows the size of the Texas delegation (based on the current political makeup and not counting additional delegates due to the intervening Census; Texas is a GOP stronghold):

• Texas is allowed 10 delegates under the at-large rule.
• The chairperson of the Texas GOP, the state national committeeman, and the state national committeewoman counts as one delegate each, for a total of three delegates.
• Texas will have 36 members in the House of Representatives after the 2012 elections; thus, Texas is allowed 108 delegates (36 * 3) under the House membership rule.
• As John McCain carried Texas in the 2008 United States Presidential Election, and as Texas has 38 electors (36 House members plus its two Senators), Texas is allowed 4.5 delegates under the at-large provision plus an additional 22.8 delegates (38 * 60%), for a total of 27.3 (4.5 + 22.8), rounded upward to 28 delegates.
• Texas is allowed the following additional delegates as follows:
  • One additional delegate as the current Governor of Texas (Rick Perry) is Republican.
  • Of the 32 current members of the House, 20 are Republicans; thus, one additional delegate under this provision.
  • As both houses of the Texas Legislature are controlled by the GOP (77-73 in the Texas House of Representatives and 19-12 in the Texas Senate) and both chambers are presided over by a Republican (Joe Straus as the Speaker of the House and David Dewhurst as Lieutenant Governor, which presides over the Senate), two additional delegates (one for having any chamber meeting the criteria, and one additional for having both chambers meet the criteria).
  • As both United States Senators from Texas are Republicans (Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn), and as both have been elected within the past six years, two additional delegates.

The Texas delegation would thus consist of 10 + 3 + 108 + 28 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 155 members.

History[link]

The first Republican National Convention was held at Lafayette Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on February 22–February 23, 1856. At this convention, the Republican Party was formally organized on a national basis, and the first Republican National Committee was elected. The first Republican National Convention to nominate a presidential candidate convened from June 17–-June 19, 1856 at the Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The 1860 convention nominated the first successful GOP presidential candidate, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. The 1864 event, with the American Civil War raging, was branded as the "National Union Convention" as it included Democrats who remained loyal to the Union and nominated Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee for Vice President.

The 1912 Republican convention saw the business-oriented faction supporting William Howard Taft turn back a challenge from former president Theodore Roosevelt, who boasted broader popular support and even won a primary in Taft's home state of Ohio. Roosevelt would run on the Progressive Party ticket, handing the election to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

The 1940 convention was the first national convention of any party broadcast on live television. It was carried by an early version of the NBC Television Network, and consisted of flagship W2XBS (now WNBC) in New York City, W3XE (now KYW-TV) in Philadelphia and W2XB (now WRGB) in Schenectady/Albany.

The growing importance of primaries became evident at the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, California, where Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater won the nomination, easily turning away Governor William Scranton and others more favorable to the party establishment.

First Lady Pat Nixon speaks to the delegates at the 1972 Republican National Convention. She was the first Republican First Lady to do what is now considered common practice.

At the 1972 convention, First Lady Pat Nixon became the first First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt and the first Republican First Lady to deliver an address to the convention delegates.^[2] It is now common practice for the First Lady to deliver an address to the delegates.

Similarly, former California Governor Ronald Reagan nearly toppled incumbent President Gerald Ford at the 1976 convention in Kansas City by securing a large bloc of votes in the North Carolina primary. It is the last convention of either major party where the outcome of the nomination battle was in doubt.

Pat Buchanan delivered a speech enthusiastically endorsing the conservative side of the culture war in American society at the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas. It was widely criticized for supposedly alienating liberal and centrist voters who might otherwise have voted for the moderate nominee, George H. W. Bush. Division in the party was evident too at the 1996 convention, at which more moderate party members such as California governor Pete Wilson and Massachusetts Governor William Weld unsuccessfully sought to remove the Human Life Amendment plank from the party platform.

Rights of protesters[link]

Political advocates outside of the major parties have complained that both the Democratic and Republican conventions have violated their First Amendment rights to demonstrate, protest and advocate their ideas.^[3] Both conventions have restricted protesters to demonstrating in "free speech zones" of fenced-in areas, sometimes surrounded by barbed wire, and not accessible to the delegates. Civil rights lawyers have complained that police indiscriminately arrest demonstrators and charge them with crimes even though they are not breaking the law. In New York 2004, police arrested people and testified under oath that the arrestees had been committing violent acts. Videotapes by bystanders and the New York City police themselves later contradicted that testimony, and showed that at least some arrestees had not been violent.^[4] The City has settled lawsuits for false arrest. In 2008, St. Paul required the RNC to buy liability insurance to cover the police for legal fees and judgments arising from legal complaints by protesters.^[5] Currently, protest groups organizing against the 2012 RNC, such as resistRNC, believe special security event ordinances escalate and even create the violence it claims to prevent.^[6]

See also[link]

• Democratic National Convention
• List of Republican National Conventions
• Republican Party
• United States presidential election, 2012

References[link]

External links[link]

• The American Presidency Project, contains the text of the national platforms that were adopted by the conventions (1856–2008)

v t e Republican Party Chairpersons of the RNC Morgan Raymond Ward Claflin Morgan Chandler Cameron Jewell Sabin Jones Quay Clarkson Carter Hanna Payne Cortelyou New Hitchcock Hill Rosewater Hilles Wilcox Hays Adams Butler Work Huston Fess Sanders Fletcher Hamilton Martin Walsh Spangler Brownell Reece Scott Gabrielson Summerfield Roberts Hall Alcorn T. B. Morton Miller Burch Bliss R. Morton Dole Bush Smith Brock Richards Fahrenkopf Atwater Yeutter Bond Barbour Nicholson Gilmore Racicot Gillespie Mehlman Martinez Duncan Steele Priebus Presidential tickets Frémont/Dayton Lincoln/Hamlin Lincoln/Johnson Grant/Colfax Grant/Wilson Hayes/Wheeler Garfield/Arthur Blaine/Logan Harrison/Morton Harrison/Reid McKinley/Hobart McKinley/Roosevelt Roosevelt/Fairbanks Taft/Sherman Taft/Sherman/Butler Hughes/Fairbanks Harding/Coolidge Coolidge/Dawes Hoover/Curtis (twice) Landon/Knox Willkie/McNary Dewey/Bricker Dewey/Warren Eisenhower/Nixon (twice) Nixon/Lodge Goldwater/Miller Nixon/Agnew (twice) Ford/Dole Reagan/G. H. W. Bush (twice) G. H. W. Bush/Quayle (twice) Dole/Kemp G. W. Bush/Cheney (twice) McCain/Palin Romney/TBD (presumptive) Parties by state and territory State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Territory District of Columbia Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Conventions (List) 1856 (Philadelphia) 1860 (Chicago) 1864 (Baltimore) 1868 (Chicago) 1872 (Philadelphia) 1876 (Cincinnati) 1880 (Chicago) 1884 (Chicago) 1888 (Chicago) 1892 (Minneapolis) 1896 (Saint Louis) 1900 (Philadelphia) 1904 (Chicago) 1908 (Chicago) 1912 (Chicago) 1916 (Chicago) 1920 (Chicago) 1924 (Cleveland) 1928 (Kansas City) 1932 (Chicago) 1936 (Cleveland) 1940 (Philadelphia) 1944 (Chicago) 1948 (Philadelphia) 1952 (Chicago) 1956 (San Francisco) 1960 (Chicago) 1964 (San Francisco) 1968 (Miami Beach) 1972 (Miami Beach) 1976 (Kansas City) 1980 (Detroit) 1984 (Dallas) 1988 (New Orleans) 1992 (Houston) 1996 (San Diego) 2000 (Philadelphia) 2004 (New York) 2008 (St. Paul) 2012 (Tampa) Affiliated organizations College Republicans Congressional Hispanic Conference International Democrat Union Log Cabin Republicans National Republican Congressional Committee National Republican Senatorial Committee Republican Conference of the United States House of Representatives Republican Conference of the United States Senate Republican Governors Association Republican Jewish Coalition Republican Liberty Caucus Republican Main Street Partnership Republican Majority for Choice Republican National Coalition for Life Republican National Hispanic Assembly Republican Study Committee Republicans Abroad Republicans for Environmental Protection The Ripon Society Teenage Republicans The Wish List Young Republicans Related articles History 2009 chairmanship election 2011 chairmanship election Bibliography Timeline of modern American conservatism Conservatism Portal

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Interrogation of Louis XVI in National Convention

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France Portal v t e

During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 (the 4th of Brumaire of the year IV under the French Republican Calendar adopted by the Convention). It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic. It was succeeded by the Directory, commencing 2 November 1795. Prominent members of the original Convention included Maximilien Robespierre of the Jacobin Club, Jean-Paul Marat (affiliated with the Jacobins, though never a formal member), and Georges Danton of the Cordeliers. From 1793 to 1794, executive power was de facto exercised by the Convention's Committee of Public Safety.

France, like the rest of Europe, has never again used an elected constitutional convention to draft its constitutions, instead relying on the executive or legislative branches to draft successive constitutions before usually (but not always) submitting them to the electorate for approval in referendums.

Formation[link]

During the insurrection of 10 August 1792, when the populace of Paris stormed the Tuileries and demanded the abolition of the monarchy, the Legislative Assembly decreed the provisional suspension of King Louis XVI and the convocation of a "national convention" which should draw up a constitution. At the same time it was decided that deputies to that convention should be elected by all Frenchmen 25 years old or more, domiciled for a year and living by the product of their labor. The National Convention was therefore the first French assembly elected by universal male suffrage, without distinctions of class. The age limit of the electors was further lowered to 21, and that of eligibility was fixed at 25 years.

The first session was held 20 September 1792. The following day, the French monarchy was abolished. A little over a year later, 22 September would become the base date of the new French Revolutionary Calendar, the beginning of the Year I of the French Republic.^[1]

Revolutionary government[link]

The Convention lasted for three years and came after the National Assembly and Legislative Assembly. The country was at war, and it seemed best to postpone the implementation of the new constitution until peace should be concluded. At the same time, as the Convention prolonged its powers, it extended them considerably in order to meet the pressing dangers which menaced the Republic.

Although it was a legislative assembly, it took over the executive power, entrusting it to its own members. This "confusion of powers", contrary to the philosophical theories – those of Montesquieu especially – which had inspired the Revolution at first, was one of the essential characteristics of the Convention. The series of exceptional measures by which that confusion of powers was created constitutes the "Revolutionary government" in the strict sense of the word, a government which was principally in vigour during the period called the "Reign of Terror". There is thus a distinction to be made, discussing the Convention, between these temporary expedients and those measures intended to be permanent.

The first years of the Convention were the height of the importance of the revolutionary political clubs such as the Jacobins and Cordeliers; the informally constituted Girondists, although past the peak of their power, were also an important factor. By the end of the Convention, most prominent members of all of these groups were dead, the bulk of them victims either of the Terror or of the Thermidorian Reaction that brought the Terror to an end.^[2]

Structure and membership[link]

The Convention held its first session in a hall of the Tuileries, then it sat in the Salle du Manège, and finally from 10 May 1793 in that of the Spectacles (or Machine), an immense hall in which the deputies were but loosely scattered. This last hall had tribunes for the public, who often influenced the debate by interruptions or by applause.^[3]

The members of the Convention came from all classes of society, but the most numerous were lawyers. Seventy-five members had sat in the National Constituent Assembly, 183 in the Legislative Assembly. The full number of deputies was 749, not counting 33 from the colonies, of whom only some arrived in Paris. Besides these, however, the newly formed départements annexed to France from 1792 to 1795 were allowed to send deputations. Many of the original deputies died or were exiled during the Convention, but not all their places were filled by suppléants. Some members proscribed during the Terror returned after the legislative coup of 9 Thermidor began the Thermidorian Reaction. Finally, many members were sent away, either to the départments or to the armies, on missions which lasted sometimes for a considerable length of time. For all these reasons it is difficult to find out the number of deputies present at any given date, for votes by roll-call were rare. During the Terror the number of those voting averaged only 250.

According to its own ruling, the Convention elected its president every fortnight. He was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a fortnight. Ordinarily the sessions were held in the morning, but evening sessions also occurred frequently, often extending late into the night. Sometimes in exceptional circumstances the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For both legislative and administrative the Convention used committees, with powers more or less widely extended and regulated by successive laws. The most famous of these committees included the Committee of Public Safety (Comité de salut public), the Committee of General Security (Comité de sûreté générale), and the Committee of Education (Comité de l’instruction).

Legacy[link]

The article on the Convention in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica concludes, "The work of the Convention was immense in all branches of public affairs. To appreciate it without prejudice, one should recall that this assembly saved France from a civil war and invasion, that it founded the system of public education (Museum, École Polytechnique, École Normale Supérieure, École des langues orientales, Conservatoire), created institutions of capital importance, like that of the Grand Livre de la Dette publique, and definitely established the social and political gains of the Revolution." By a decree of 4 February 1794 (16 pluviôse) it also ratified and expanded to the whole French colonial empire the 1793 abolition of slavery on Saint-Domingue by civil commissioners Sonthonax and Polverel, though this did not affect Martinique or Guadeloupe and was abolished by the law of 20 May 1802.

See also[link]

• The Legislative Assembly and the fall of the French monarchy
• Girondist
• The Mountain
• Georges Jacques Danton
• Maximilien Robespierre
• Marat

Notes[link]

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

• Presidents of the National Convention: 1792–1795

v t e Republican heads of state of France Styled President of the Republic after 1871, except from 1940–44 (Chief of State) and 1944–47 (Chairman of the Provisional Government) First Republic (1792–1804) National Convention Directory Consulate Second Republic (1848–1852) Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure Executive Commission Louis-Eugène Cavaignac Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte Government of National Defence (1870–1871) Louis Jules Trochu Third Republic (1871–1940) Adolphe Thiers Patrice de Mac-Mahon Jules Armand Dufaure Jules Grévy Maurice Rouvier Sadi Carnot Charles Dupuy Jean Casimir-Perier Charles Dupuy Félix Faure Charles Dupuy Émile Loubet Armand Fallières Raymond Poincaré Paul Deschanel Alexandre Millerand Alexandre Millerand Frédéric François-Marsal Gaston Doumergue Paul Doumer André Tardieu Albert Lebrun Vichy France (1940–1944) Philippe Pétain Provisional Government (1944–1947) Charles de Gaulle Félix Gouin Georges Bidault Vincent Auriol Léon Blum Fourth Republic (1947–1959) Vincent Auriol René Coty Fifth Republic (since 1959) Charles de Gaulle Alain Poher Georges Pompidou Alain Poher Valéry Giscard d'Estaing François Mitterrand Jacques Chirac Nicolas Sarkozy François Hollande Italics indicate interim officeholder