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{{Short description|French journalist and politician (1757–1794)}}
{{other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Jacques Hébert
| image               = Jacques René Hébert.JPG
| image_size          =
| birth_name          = Jacques René Hébert
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|df=yes|1757|11|15}}
| birth_place         = [[Alençon]], [[Kingdom of France]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1794|3|24|1757|11|15|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Paris]], [[French First Republic]]
| death_cause         = [[Guillotined|Execution by guillotine]]
| residence           = Paris, France
| nationality         = [[French people|French]]
| occupation          = Journalist, writer, publisher, politician
| party               = [[The Mountain]] {{small|(1792–1794)}}
| otherparty          = [[Jacobin Club]] {{small|(1789–1792)}}<br>[[Cordeliers Club]] {{small|(1792–1794)}}
| parents             = Jacques Hébert (?–1766) and Marguerite La Beunaiche de Houdré (1727–1787)
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Marie Marguerite Françoise Hébert]]|1792}}
| children            = Virginie-Scipion Hébert (1793–1830)
| signature           = Jacques-René Hébert (signature).jpg
| resting_place       = [[Errancis Cemetery]]
}}
{{republicanism sidebar}}

'''Jacques René Hébert''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒak ʁəne ebɛʁ|lang}}; 15 November 1757 – 24 March 1794) was a French journalist and the leading figure of the radical [[Hébertists]] political group during the [[French Revolution]]. As the founder and editor of the radical newspaper ''[[Le Père Duchesne]]'',<ref>Doyle, William (1989); [https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoff00doyl_0 ''The Oxford History of the French Revolution'']; Clarendon Press; {{ISBN|0-19-822781-7}}. See p.227."</ref> he had thousands of followers known as ''the [[Hébertists]]'' (French ''Hébertistes''). A proponent of the [[Reign of Terror]], he was eventually [[guillotined]].

==Early life==
[[File:AduC 046 Hébert (J.R., 1755-1794).JPG|alt=Young Jacques Hébert|thumb|100px|left|Hébert arrived in Paris in 1780, at the age of 23.]]

Jacques René Hébert was born on 15 November 1757 in [[Alençon]] into a [[Protestant]] [[Huguenot]] family, to goldsmith, former trial judge, and deputy consul Jacques Hébert (died 1766) and Marguerite Beunaiche de Houdrie (1727–1787).

Hébert studied law at the College of Alençon and went into practice as a clerk for a solicitor in Alençon, in which position he was ruined by a lawsuit against a Dr. Clouet. Hébert fled first to [[Rouen]] and then to [[Paris]] in 1780 to evade a substantial one thousand [[French livre|livre]] fine imposed for charges of slander.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Colwill |first1=Elizabeth |title=Just Another 'Citoyenne?' Marie-Antoinette on Trial, 1790-1793 |journal=History Workshop |issue=28 |pages=63–87 |jstor=4288925 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4288925 |access-date=}}</ref> For a while, he passed through a difficult financial time and was supported by a hairdresser in Rue des Noyers. There he found work in a theater, [[Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes|La République]], where he wrote plays in his spare time; but these were never produced. Hébert was eventually fired for theft and entered the service of a doctor. It is said he lived through expediency and fraud.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

In 1789, he began his writing with a pamphlet ''La Lanterne magique ou le Fléau des Aristocrates'' ("The Magic Lantern, or Scourge of Aristocrats"). He published a few booklets. In 1790, he attracted attention through a pamphlet he published, and became a prominent member of the political club of the [[Cordeliers]] in 1791.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Père Duchesne==
Many writers and journalists were greatly influenced by the proclamation of martial law on 21 October 1789. It invoked various questions and patterns of Revolutionary thinking and inspired various forms of writing such as that based on the character of ''Père Duchesne'' (Father Duchesne). The law prompted multiple interpretations, all of which led to what became essential Revolutionary ideals.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Neusy|first=Aurélie|date=1 April 2011|title=Opinions et réflexions sur la loi martiale dans la presse et les pamphlets (1789‑1792)|url=http://www.cairn.info/resume.php?ID_ARTICLE=AHRF_360_0027|journal=Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française|volume=360 |language=fr|issue=360|pages=27–48|doi=10.4000/ahrf.11639 |issn=0003-4436|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

From 1790 until his death in 1794, Hébert assumed the role of a voice for the working class of Paris through his highly successful and influential journal, ''[[Le Père Duchesne]]''. In his journal, Hébert assumed the voice of a patriotic [[sans-culottes|''sans-culotte'']] named Père Duchesne and would write first-person narratives in which Père Duchesne would often relay fictitious conversations that he had with the French monarchs or government officials.<ref>Sonenscher, Michael. "The Sans-culottes of the Year II: Rethinking the Language of Labour in Revolutionary France". Social History Vol. 9 No. 3 (1984): 326.</ref> Hébert did not use himself as the prime example of the revolution. He used a mythical character of Père Duchesne to be able to relay his message in an anonymous fashion. Père Duchesne was already well known by the people of Paris and Hébert only wanted his message to be received directly and clearly by his followers. Père Duchesne was a strong, outspoken, highly emotional character. He felt great anger but also could experience great happiness. He was never afraid to show exactly how he was feeling. He would constantly use foul language and other harsh words to express himself,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Beik|first=Paul|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-00526-0_39|title = The French Revolution|pages = 271–276|year = 1970|isbn = 978-1-349-00528-4|chapter=November, 1793: Père Duchesne, His Plebeian Appeal}}</ref> while also being witty and reflective. The stories resonated deeply in the poorer Parisian quarters. This could encourage violent behavior. Street hawkers would yell, ''Il est bougrement en colère aujourd’hui le père Duchesne!'' ("Father Duchesne is very angry today!").{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} Although Hébert did not create the image of the Père Duchesne, his use of the character helped to transform the symbolic image of Père Duchesne from that of a comical stove-merchant into a patriotic role model for the ''sans-culottes''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Colwill|first=Elizabeth|year=1989|title=Just Another "Citoyenne?" Marie-Antoinette on Trial, 1790–1793|jstor=4288925|journal=History Workshop|volume=28|issue=28|pages=65|doi=10.1093/hwj/28.1.63}}</ref> In part, Hébert's use of Père Duchesne as a revolutionary symbol can be seen by the character's appearance as a bristly old man who was portrayed as smoking a pipe and wearing a [[Phrygian cap]].

Hébert and the Hébertists often expressed the view that many more aristocrats should be examined, denounced, and executed, as they argued that France could only be fully reborn through the elimination of its ancient and supposedly currently malignant nobility.<ref>{{cite book|last=Weber|first=Caroline|title=Terror and Its Discontents: Suspect Words in Revolutionary France|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|date=2003|pages=78|chapter=Chapter 2: The Terror That Speaks: The Unspeakable Politics of Robespierre and Saint-Just|jstor=10.5749/j.cttts898.6|chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.5749/j.cttts898.6.pdf|isbn=978-0-8166-9333-7}}</ref> In ''Le Père Duchesne'' number 65, where he writes of his reawakening in 1790, he defines aristocrats as "enemies of the constitution" who "conspire against the nation".<ref>{{cite news |last=Hébert|first=Jacques-René|date=1790|title=The Reawakening of Père Duchesne|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/france/revolution/hebert/1790/reawakening.htm|work=Père Duchesne|access-date=2021-05-18}}</ref> Much of Hébert's celebrity came from his denunciations of King [[Louis XVI]] in his newspaper, as opposed to any office he may have held or his roles in any of the Parisian clubs with which he was involved.<ref>{{cite thesis|type=PhD|last=McNamara|first=Charles B.|date=1974|title=THE HEBERTISTS: STUDY OF A FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY "FACTION" IN THE REIGN OF TERROR, 1793-1794.|publisher=Fordham University}}</ref>

Because Père Duchesne reflected both his audience's speech and dress, his readers listened to and acted on his message. The French linguist and historian [[Ferdinand Brunot]] called Hébert "the [[Homer]] of filth" because of his ability to use common language to appeal to a general audience.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The Press in The Press in the French Revolution|last=Gilchrist|first=John Thomas|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=1971|location=New York|pages=21}}</ref> In addition, Père Duchesne's appearance played into the tensions of the revolution through the sharp contrast between his laborer's clothing and the elegant attire of the aristocracy.<ref name=":0">Landes, Joan. "More than Words: The Printing Press and the French Revolution". Review of Revolution in Print: The Press in France, by Robert Darton, Daniel Roche; Naissance du Journal Revolutionnaire, by Claude Labrosse, Pierre Retat; La Revolution du Journal, by Pierre Retat; Revolutionary News; The Press in France, by Jeremy D. Popkin. Eighteenth-Century Studies Vol. 25 No. 1 (1991): 85–91.</ref> Hébert was not the only writer during the French Revolution to use the image of Père Duchesne nor was he the only author in the period to adopt foul language as a way of appealing to the working class. Another writer at the time, {{Ill|Antoine-François Lemaire|fr}}, also wrote a newspaper entitled ''Père Duchêne'' (although he spelt it differently than Hébert) from September 1790 until May 1792 in which he assumed the voice of a "moderate patriot" who wanted to conserve the relationship between the King and the nation. Lemaire's character also used a slew of profanities and would address France's military. However, ''Le Père Duchesne'' became far more popular because it cost less than [[Jean-Paul Marat]]'s paper, ''[[L'Ami du peuple]]''. This made it easier to access for people like the sans-culottes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Colwill |first1=Elizabeth |title=Just Another 'Citoyenne?' Marie-Antoinette on Trial, 1790-1793. |journal=History Workshop |number=28 |pages=63–87 |jstor=4288925 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4288925}}</ref> The popularity was also, in part, due to the [[Paris Commune (1789–1795)|Paris Commune]] deciding to buy his papers and distribute them to the French soldiers in training. For example, starting in 1792, the Paris Commune and the ministers of war [[Jean-Nicolas Pache]] and, later, [[Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte]] bought several thousand copies of ''Le Père Duchesne'' which were distributed free to the public and troops. This happened again in May and June 1793 when the Minister of War bought copies of newspapers in order to "enlighten and animate their patriotism".  It is estimated that Hébert received 205,000 [[French livre|livres]] from this purchase.<ref name=":1" /> The assassination of Jean-Paul Marat on July 13, 1793, led to ''Le Père Duchesne'' becoming the incontestable best-selling paper in Paris.<ref>Doyle, William (1989); [https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoff00doyl_0 ''The Oxford History of the French Revolution'']; Clarendon Press; {{ISBN|0-19-822781-7}}. See p.250: "Hébert’s Père Duchesne, written in the oath-strewn vernacular, became the undisputed best-selling paper in Paris once Marat was silenced."</ref>

[[File:Indissolubricite.jpg|thumb|120px|"The Indignation of Père Duchesne" (1790)]]

Hébert's political commentary between 1790 and 1793 focused on the lavish excesses of the monarchy. Initially, from 1790 and into 1792, ''Le Père Duchesne'' supported a [[constitutional monarchy]] and was even favorable towards King [[Louis XVI]] and the opinions of the [[Marquis de Lafayette]]. His violent attacks of the period were aimed at [[Jean-Sifrein Maury]], a great defender of papal authority and the main opponent of the [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy]]. Although the character of Père Duchesne supported a constitutional monarchy, he was always highly critical of [[Marie Antoinette]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Colwill |first1=Elizabeth |title=Just Another 'Citoyenne?' Marie-Antoinette on Trial, 1790-1793. |journal=History Workshop |number=28 |pages=63–87 |jstor=4288925 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4288925}}</ref> Knowing that the queen was an easy target for ridicule after the [[Affair of the Diamond Necklace|Diamond Necklace Affair]], she became a consistent target in the paper as a scapegoat for many of France's political problems. By identifying Marie Antoinette's lavish excesses and alleged sexuality as the core of the monarchy's problems, Hébert's articles suggested that, if Marie Antoinette would change her ways and renounce aristocratic excesses, the monarchy could be saved and the queen could return to the good will of the people. Despite his view that the monarchy could be restored, Hébert was skeptical of the queen's willingness to comply and often characterized her as an evil enemy of the people by referring to the queen as "Madame Veto" and even addressing King Louis XVI as, "drunken and lazy; a [[cuckold]]ed pig".<ref>{{cite journal|year=1989|title=Just Another 'Citoyenne?' Marie-Antoinette on Trial, 1790–1793|journal=History Workshop Journal|volume=28|pages=72–73|doi=10.1093/hwj/28.1.63|author=Colwill, Elizabeth|number=28}}</ref> Initially, Hébert was trying to not only educate his readers about the queen, but also awaken her to how she was viewed by the French public. This gave Marie-Antoinette a pivotal role in Hébert's political rhetoric; as the Revolution unfolded, she appears in fourteen percent of his newspaper articles between January 1791 and March 1794.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Colwill |first1=Elizabeth |title=Just Another 'Citoyenne?' Marie-Antoinette on Trial, 1790-1793. |journal=History Workshop |number=28 |pages=63–87 |jstor=4288925 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4288925}}</ref> Many of the fictitious conversations that Père Duchesne has with her in the newspaper are attempts at either showcasing her supposed [[nymphomania]] or attempting to beg her to repent and renounce her wicked ways.<ref>Kaiser, Thomas. "Who’s Afraid of Marie-Antoinette? Diplomacy, Austrophobia, and the Queen." French History, Vol. 14 No. 3 (2000): 241–271.</ref> With the king's failed [[flight to Varennes]], Hébert's tone significantly hardened.

[[File:PereDuchesne1792a.png|thumb|120px|right|"The Great Anger of Père Duchesne" (1792).]]

==Revolutionary role==
Following Louis's failed [[flight to Varennes]] in June 1791, Hébert began to attack both Louis and [[Pope Pius VI]]. On 17 July, Hébert was at the [[Champ de Mars, Paris|Champ de Mars]] to sign a petition to demand the removal of King Louis XVI and was caught up in the subsequent [[Champ de Mars Massacre|Champ de Mars massacre]] by troops under the [[Marquis de Lafayette]]. This put him in the revolutionary mindset, and ''Le Père Duchesne'' adopted a populist style, deliberately opposed to the high-minded seriousness and appeal to reason expressed by other revolutionaries, to better appeal to the Parisian sans-culottes. His journalistic voice expressed separation from and violent opposition to cultured elites in favor of a popular political allegiance to radical patriotic solutions to controlling the economy and winning the war.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Colwill |first1=Elizabeth |title=Just Another 'Citoyenne?' Marie-Antoinette on Trial, 1790-1793. |journal=History Workshop |number=28 |pages=63–87 |jstor=4288925 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4288925}}</ref> ''Le Père Duchesne'' began to attack prominent political figures like Lafayette, head of the [[National Guard (France)|National Guard]]; the deceased [[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau|Comte de Mirabeau]], a prominent orator and statesman; and [[Jean Sylvain Bailly]], mayor of Paris. In a 1793 speech to the public, Hébert stated his beliefs regarding Lafayette. He noted that there were two Père Duchesnes, who opposed each other deeply. The Père Duchesne that he said he identified with was the "honest and loyal Père Duchesne who has pursued traitors", while the Père Duchesne he had nothing to do with "praised Lafayette to the heavens".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roux|first1=Jacques|last2=Cloots|first2=Anacharsis|last3=Hébert|first3=Jacques-René|last4=Maréchal|first4=Sylvain|editor-last=Abidor|editor-first=Mitchell|title=The Permanent Guillotine: Writings of the Sans-Culottes|publisher=Oakland, CA: PM Press|date=2018|pages=98|chapter=Jacques Hébert|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/permanent_9781629634067/page/n97/mode/2up|isbn=978-1-629-63406-7}}</ref>

As a member of [[Cordeliers]] club, he had a seat in the revolutionary [[Paris Commune (French Revolution)|Paris Commune]], and during the [[10 August (French Revolution)|Insurrection of 10 August 1792]] he was sent to the Bonne-Nouvelle [[Revolutionary sections of Paris|section]] of Paris. As a public journalist, he supported the [[September Massacres]] the next month. He agreed with most of the ideals of the radical [[Montagnard (French Revolution)|Montagnard]] faction, even though he was not a member of it. On 22 December 1792, he was appointed the second substitute of the ''procureur'' of the commune, and through to August 1793 supported the attacks against the [[Girondin]] faction.

In April–May 1793 he, along with [[Jean-Paul Marat|Marat]] and others, violently attacked the Girondins. On 20 May 1793, the moderate majority of the [[National Convention]] formed the [[Special Commission of Twelve]], a Girondin commission which was designed to investigate and prosecute conspirators. At the urging of the Twelve, on 24 May 1793, he was arrested. However, Hébert had been warned in time, and, with the support of the ''[[sans-culottes]]'', the National Convention was forced to order his release three days later. Just four days after that, his anti-Girondin rhetoric would help lead to their ousting in the [[Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793|Insurrection of 31 May {{En dash}} 2 June]]. On 28 August 1793, he proposed to the Jacobins to write an address taking up the demands of the [[Enragés]], and to have it taken to the Convention by the Jacobins, the 48 sections, and the popular societies, a suggestion greatly applauded by [[Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne|Billaud-Varenne]] and others, ignoring [[Maximilien Robespierre]]'s warning against a riot "which would fill the aristocrats with joy".

During all this, Hébert met his wife [[Marie Marguerite Françoise Hébert|Marie Goupil]] (born 1756), a 37-year-old former nun who had left convent life at the Sisters of Providence convent at [[Rue Saint-Honoré]]. Marie's passport from this time shows regular use.{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}} They married on 7 February 1792, and had a daughter, Virginie-Scipion Hébert (7 February 1793 – 13 July 1830).<ref>{{cite journal |first=Paul |last= Nicolle |title=La Fille d'Hébert. Son parrain. — La descendance du Père Duchesne |journal=Annales historiques de la Révolution française |number=108 |date=October–December 1947 |volume= 19 |pages=326–332 |jstor=41925452}}</ref> During this time, Hébert had a luxurious, bourgeois life. He entertained [[Jean-Nicolas Pache]], the mayor of Paris and Minister of War, for weeks, as well as other influential men, and liked to dress elegantly and surround himself with beautiful objects such as pretty tapestries—an attitude that can be contrasted to that of Paris Commune president [[Pierre Gaspard Chaumette]]. Where he got the financial resources to support his lifestyle is unclear; however, there are Jean-Nicolas Pache's commissions to print thousands of issues of ''Le Père Duchesne'' and his relationship to Delaunay d'Angers, mistress and wife of Andres Maria de Guzman.{{Who|date=July 2023}} In February 1793, he voted with fellow bourgeois [[Hébertists]] against a Maximum Price Act, a [[price ceiling]] on grain, on the grounds that it would cause hoarding and stir resentment.

==Dechristianization==
[[Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution|Dechristianization]] was a movement that took hold during the French Revolution. Advocates believed that to pursue a secular society, they had to reject the superstitions of the [[Ancien Régime|Old Regime]] and, as an extension, [[Catholicism]], altogether. The trend toward secularization had already begun to take hold throughout France during the eighteenth century, but between September 1793 and August 1794, mostly during the [[Reign of Terror]], French politicians began discussing and embracing notions of "radical dechristianization".<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution|last=Chartier|first=Roger|publisher=Duke University Press|year=1991|pages=105–106}}</ref> While [[Maximilien Robespierre|Robespierre]] advocated for the right to religion and believed that aggressively pursuing dechristianization would spur widespread [[Federalist revolts|revolts throughout rural France]], Hébert and his followers, the [[Hébertists]], wanted to spontaneously and violently overhaul religion.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The Furies: Violence and Terror in the French and Russian Revolutions|url=https://archive.org/details/furiesviolencete00maye|url-access=limited|last=Mayer|first=Arno J.|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2000|location=Princeton, New Jersey|pages=[https://archive.org/details/furiesviolencete00maye/page/n458 441]–442|isbn=9780691048970}}</ref> The writer and philosopher [[Voltaire]] was an inspiration to Hébert on this front. Like Voltaire, Hébert believed that the toleration of different religious beliefs was necessary for humanity to pass from an age of superstitions, and that traditional religion was an obstacle to this goal. Eventually, Hébert would argue that Jesus was not a demigod, but instead a good ''[[Sans-culottes|sans-culotte]]''. Voltaire had also provided him with the basic tenets of a civic religion that would be able to replace traditional religion, which led to Hébert to being heavily involved in the movement.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gliozzo|first=Charles A.|date=Sep 1971|title=The Philosophes and Religion: Intellectual Origins of the Dechristianization Movement in the French Revolution|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3163003|journal= Church History|volume=40|issue=3|pages=273–283|doi=10.2307/3163003|jstor=3163003|s2cid=162297115 |access-date=May 17, 2021|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The program of dechristianization waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death, the closing of churches, the institution of revolutionary and civic cults, the large scale destruction of religious monuments, the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education, forced marriages of the clergy, and forced abjurement of their [[priesthood]].<ref name="Latreille">{{cite encyclopedia|title=French Revolution|encyclopedia=[[New Catholic Encyclopedia]]|publisher=[[Thomson-Gale]]|last=Latreille|first=A.|year=2003 |edition=Second Ed. 2003|volume=5|pages=972–973|isbn=978-0-7876-4004-0}}</ref> On 21 October 1793, a law was passed which made all suspected priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.<ref name="Latreille"/>

On 10 November 1793, dechristianization reached what many historians consider the climax of the movement when the Hébertists moved the first Festival of Reason (''Fête de la Raison''), a civic festival celebrating the [[Goddess of Reason]], from the Circus of the [[Palais-Royal|Palais Royale]] to the Cathedral of [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame]] and reclaimed the cathedral as a "Temple of Reason".<ref name=":2" /> On 7 June, Robespierre, who had previously condemned the [[Cult of Reason]], advocated a new state religion and recommended that the Convention acknowledge the existence of a singular [[God]]. On the next day, the worship of the deistic [[Cult of the Supreme Being|Supreme Being]] was inaugurated as an official aspect of the Revolution. Compared with Hébert's somewhat popular festivals, this austere new religion of Virtue was received with signs of hostility by the Parisian public.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

==Clash with Robespierre, arrest, conviction, and execution==
After successfully attacking the [[Girondins]], Hébert in the fall of 1793 continued to attack those whom he viewed as too moderate, including [[Georges Danton]], [[Pierre Philippeaux]], and [[Maximilien Robespierre]], among others. When Hébert accused [[Marie Antoinette]] during her trial of incest with her son, Robespierre called him a fool (''imbécile'') for his outrageous and unsubstantiated innuendos and lies.<ref>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k41180s/f1n73.pdf?download=1 Joachim Vilate (1795) Causes secrètes de la révolution du 9 au 10 thermidor, p. 12-13]</ref>

The government was exasperated and, with support from the Jacobins, finally decided to strike against the [[Hébertists]] on the night of 13 March 1794, despite the reluctance of [[Bertrand Barère|Barère de Vieuzac]], [[Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois|Collot d'Herbois]], and [[Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne|Billaud-Varenne]]. The order was to arrest the leaders of the Hébertists; these included individuals in the War Ministry and others.

In the [[Revolutionary Tribunal]], Hébert was treated very differently from Danton, more like a thief than a conspirator; his earlier frauds were brought to light and criticized. He was sentenced to death with his co-defendants on the third day of deliberations. Their execution by [[guillotine]] took place on 24 March 1794.<ref>Doyle (1989); p.270. |"The trial took place on 21–4 March, its result a foregone conclusion. Among those who went to the scaffold with Pere Duchesne on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth were Vincent, Ronsin, and the leader of section Marat, Momoro."</ref> Hébert fainted several times on the way to the guillotine and screamed hysterically when he was placed under the blade. Hébert's executioners reportedly amused the crowd by adjusting the guillotine so that its blade stopped inches above his neck,<ref>Page 27 BBC History Magazine, September 2015</ref> and it was only after the fourth time the lever (''déclic'') was pulled that he was actually beheaded. His corpse was disposed of in the [[Madeleine Cemetery]]. [[Marie Marguerite Françoise Hébert|His widow]] was executed twenty days later on 13 April 1794, and her corpse was disposed of in the [[Errancis Cemetery]].

The importance of Hébert's execution was known by everyone involved in the revolution, including the Jacobins. [[Louis Antoine de Saint-Just]], a prominent Jacobin leader, noted that following his execution, "the revolution is frozen",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roux|first1=Jacques|last2=Cloots|first2=Anacharsis|last3=Hébert|first3=Jacques-René|last4=Maréchal|first4=Sylvain|editor-last=Abidor|editor-first=Mitchell|title=The Permanent Guillotine:Writings of the Sans-Culottes|publisher=Oakland, CA:PM Press|date=2018|pages=14|chapter=Introduction|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/permanent_9781629634067/page/n13/mode/2up|isbn=978-1-629-63406-7}}</ref> demonstrating how central Hébert and his followers, a large portion of ''sans-culottes'', were to the longevity and success of the revolution.

==Influence==
It is difficult to ascertain the extent to which Hébert's publication ''Le Père Duchesne'' impacted the outcomes of political events between 1790 and 1794. Historians such as Jean-Paul Bertaud, Jeremy D. Popkin, and William J. Murray each investigated French Revolutionary press history and determined that while the newspapers and magazines that one read during the revolution may have influenced political leanings, the periodicals did not necessarily create those political leanings. One's class, for example, could be a significant determinant in directing and influencing one's political decisions. Therefore, Hébert's writings certainly influenced his audience to an often dramatic extent, but the ''sans-culottes'' were but one element in a complex political mix, meaning that it is difficult to determine in what ways his writing changed the political outcomes of the French Revolution.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jeremy D.|first=Popkin|year=1990|title=The Press and the French Revolution after Two Hundred Years|jstor=286493|journal=French Historical Studies|volume=16|issue=3|pages=688–670|doi=10.2307/286493 }}</ref> That being said, his wide readership and voice throughout the Revolution means that he was a significant public figure, and ''Le Père Duchesne''{{'}}s ability to influence the general population of France was indeed notable.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Le_Pere_Duchesne.jpg|Illustration from ''Le Père Duchesne'' broadsides
Image:LetterHebertPalloy.jpg|Letter by Jacques Hébert to citizen [[Pierre-François Palloy]]
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Hébert, Jacques René|volume=13|page=167}} The 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', in turn, gives the following references:
**Louis Duval, "Hébert chez lui", in ''La Révolution Française, revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine'', t. xii. and t. xiii.
**D. Mater, J. R. Hibert, ''L'auteur du Père Duchesne avant la journée du 10 août 1792'' (Bourges, Comm. Hist. du Cher, 1888).
**[[François Victor Alphonse Aulard]], ''Le Culte de la raison et de l'être suprême'' (Paris, 1892).

==External links==
*[http://www.marxists.org/history/france/revolution/hebert/index.htm Jacques Hébert Internet Archive] on [[Marxists.org]]

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