View source for Pierre-Joseph Cambon

{{Short description|French statesman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Pierre-Joseph Cambon
| image               = Pierre-joseph-cambon-estampe.jpg
| office              = 27th [[List of Presidents of the National Convention|President of the National Convention]]
| term_start          = 19 September 1793
| term_end            = 3 October 1793
| predecessor         = [[Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne]]
| successor           = [[Louis-Joseph Charlier]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1756|6|10|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Montpellier, France|Montpellier]], [[Kingdom of France]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1820|2|15|1756|6|10|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Saint-Josse-ten-Noode]], [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands|Kingdom of the Netherlands]]
| party               = [[The Mountain]]
}}

'''Pierre-Joseph Cambon''' ({{IPA|fr|pjɛʁ ʒozɛf kɑ̃bɔ̃}}, 10 June 1756 – 15 February 1820) was a French statesman. He is perhaps best known for speaking up against [[Maximilien Robespierre]] at the National Convention, sparking the end of Robespierre's reign.

Born in [[Montpellier, France|Montpellier]], Cambon was the son of a wealthy cotton merchant. In 1785, his father retired, leaving Pierre and his two brothers to run the business, but in 1788 Pierre entered politics, and was sent by his fellow-citizens as deputy suppliant to the [[Estates-General of 1789|Estates-General]], where he was mostly a spectator. In January 1790 he returned to Montpellier, was elected a member of the municipality, co-founded the [[Jacobin Club]] in that city, and on the [[flight to Varennes]] of [[List of French monarchs|King]] [[Louis XVI]] in 1791, he drew up a petition to invite the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]] to proclaim a [[First French Republic|Republic]] —the first in date of such petitions.

Elected to the [[Legislative Assembly (France)|Legislative Assembly]], Cambon was viewed as independent, honest, and talented in the financial domain. He was the most active member of the committee of finance and was often charged to verify the state of the [[treasury]]. His analytical skills were recorded in his remarkable speech of 24 November 1791.

It was Cambon who made the initial suggestion for the state debt to be "rendered republican and uniform" and it was he who proposed to convert all the contracts of the creditors of the state into an inscription in a great book, which should be called the "Great Book of the Public Debt".<ref>[[Adolphe Thiers]], George Thomas, [[Frederic Shoberl]]. ''The History of the French Revolution'', Vickers, 1845 <!--Original from Harvard University Digitized 15 Oct 2007 -->[https://books.google.com/books?id=mFQPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA329 p. 329]</ref> This proposal was implemented in 1792 when the [[Great Book of the Public Debt]] was created as a consolidation of all the states debts.<ref>
Staff. ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica'' Encyclopædia Britannica, 1986 {{ISBN|0-85229-443-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-85229-443-7}}. p. 758</ref><ref>Florin Aftalion, [[Martin Thom]] (contribution and translation), ''The French Revolution'', Cambridge University Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-521-36810-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-521-36810-0}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=-SQkXhxCif8C&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143#PPA143,M1 pp. 143,144]</ref>

He held his distance from political clubs and even factions, but nonetheless defended the new institutions of the state. On 9 February 1792, he succeeded in having a law passed confiscating the possessions of the ''[[émigré]]s'', and tried to arrange the [[Penal transportation|deportation]] of [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy|non-juring priests]] to [[French Guiana]]. He was the last president of the Legislative Assembly.

Re-elected to the [[National Convention]], Cambon opposed the pretensions of the [[Paris Commune (French Revolution)|Paris Commune]] and the proposed grant of money to the municipality of [[Paris]] by the state. On 15 December 1792, he persuaded the convention to adopt a proclamation to all nations in favour of a [[World government|universal republic]]. In the year after he denounced [[Jean-Paul Marat]]'s placards as inciting to murder, summoned [[Georges Danton]] to give an account of his ministry, supervised the furnishing of military supplies to the [[French Revolutionary Army]], and was a strong opponent of [[Charles François Dumouriez]], in spite of the general's great popularity.

Cambon incurred the hatred of the [[Theism|theist]] [[Maximilien Robespierre]] (see [[Cult of the Supreme Being]]) by proposing the suppression of the pay to the clergy, which would have meant the [[separation of church and state]]. His authority grew steadily.

Although he took part in toppling [[Robespierre]] in July 1794, Cambon was targeted and pursued by the [[Thermidorian Reaction]], and had to live in hiding in Montpellier. During the [[Hundred Days]], he was a deputy to the lower chamber, but only took part in debates over the budget. Proscribed by the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]] in 1816, he died at [[Saint-Josse-ten-Noode]], near [[Brussels]].

==Notes==
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==References==
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Cambon, Pierre Joseph}}

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[[Category:1756 births]]
[[Category:1820 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Montpellier]]
[[Category:Occitan people]]
[[Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly (France)]]
[[Category:People on the Committee of Public Safety]]
[[Category:Presidents of the National Convention]]
[[Category:Deputies to the French National Convention]]
[[Category:Members of the Chamber of Representatives (France)]]
[[Category:Members of Parliament for Hérault]]
[[Category:French political writers]]
[[Category:Regicides of Louis XVI]]