National Convention (redirected from national conventions)

National Convention

 French Convention Nationale

Governing assembly (1792–95) of the French Revolution. Comprising 749 deputies elected after the overthrow of the monarchy (1792), it sought to provide a new constitution for France. The struggle between the radical Montagnards and the moderate Girondins dominated the Convention until the Girondins were purged in 1793. The democratic constitution already approved by the Convention was not put into effect while the Montagnards controlled the assembly (1793–94). After the Thermidorian Reaction (1794), the balance of power in the Convention was held by members of the Plain. The Girondins were recalled, and the Constitution of 1795 was approved for the Directory regime that replaced the Convention.