Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

The Plain

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Leader
  
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès

Newspaper
  
Journal des débats

Founded
  
September 6, 1791 (1791-09-06)

Dissolved
  
November 2, 1795 (1795-11-02)

Headquarters
  
Tuileries Palace, Paris

Political club
  
Jacobin Club (many affiliated)

The Plain (French: La Plaine), mainly known as The Marsh (French: Le Marais), was a political group in the French National Convention during the French Revolution. Its members were nicknamed as Maraisards or, derogatory, Toads (French: Crapaud), like the toads are marshy animals.

They sat between the Girondists' right-wing and Montagnards' left-wing. None of these three groups was an organized party as is known today. The Mountain and the Girondists did consist of individuals with similar views and agendas who socialized together and often coordinated political plans. The Plain, however, consisted of delegates that did not belong to either of these two groups and as such was even more amorphous.

The Plain constituted the majority of delegates to the Convention and would vote with either the Girondists or Mountain depending on the issue at hand, the current circumstances and mood of the Convention. Initially they sided with the Girondists, but later backed the Mountain in executing Louis XVI and inaugurating the Terror. Later they abandoned the Mountain inaugurating the Thermidorian Reaction.

References

The Plain Wikipedia