he eighteenth century. Philosophical attacks on the old institutions and customs of society opened the way for removal of government apparatus that was not progressive or responsive but privileged, ceremonial, absolutist, and increasingly impotent, while benefiting from middle class accomplishments and taxes. In both America and France, revolution was distinctive because it was largely a product of middle class thought and personalities. But the American and French examples also showed that revolution could be both constructive and destructive: While the American Revolution evolved into constitutional government, the French Revolution (partly owing to France's national bankruptcy after financing the American enterprise against its European rival Britain) degenerated into terror.
Robespierre (1758-94) was a revolutionary patriot and driving force of the First Republic, the government established by the French Revolution. A radical leader (Jacobin), he used the Committee of Public Safety to mobilize all France against the old religion and aristocracy, al
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