Charlotte Corday - Political Influence

Political Influence

After the revolution began to radicalize and head towards terror Charlotte Corday began sympathizing largely with the Girondin and was subsequently influenced by them. She admired their speeches and grew fond of many of the members whom she met while living in Caen. She respected and revered them and thought it necessary to align herself with the party. She had an urge to get to know the members and regarded them as a party that would ultimately save France. The Gironde represented a more moderate approach to the revolution and they, like Corday, were skeptical about the direction the revolution was taking. They were opposed to the Montagnards, who were advocating for a more radical approach to the revolution, which included the extreme idea that the only way the revolution would survive invasion and civil war was through terrorizing and executing those opposed to it. The opposition to this radical thinking coupled with the fact that she was being influenced by the Gironde ultimately led her to carry out her plan to murder one of the most radical of them all, Jean-Paul Marat.

The influence of Girondin ideas on Corday is evident in this utterance at her trial: “I knew that he was perverting France. I have killed one man to save a hundred thousand.” As the revolution had progressed the Girondin were progressively more opposed to the radical, violent propositions of the Montagnards such as Marat and Robespierre. Corday’s notion that she was saving a hundred thousand echoes this Girondin sentiment as they attempted to slow the revolution and reverse the violence that had escalated since the September Massacres.