Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, Louis Michel

(also L. M. Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau). Born May 29, 1760, in Paris; died there Jan. 20, 1793. French revolutionary figure; Jacobin.

On the eve of the revolution, Le Peletier was president of the Parlement of Paris. He was elected to the Estates General in 1789 by the gentry, and initially he defended their interests. Under the influence of revolutionary events, he switched to the side of the third estate. In June 1790, Le Peletier was elected chairman of the Constituent Assembly. In August 1792, he became a member of the Convention. As a member of the Jacobin Club, he voted for the execution of Louis XVI. On the eve of the execution of the king, he was mortally wounded by a royalist.

Le Peletier was the author of a “plan for national education” that had as its basic goal the introduction of uniform and universal free education of boys aged five to 12 and girls aged five to 11. His plan provided for the organization of boarding schools, or “houses of national education,” all to be paid for by the state through a special progressive income tax. All children without exception would be educated in these houses. The teaching would have a secular character, with considerable attention given to physical labor. Le Peletier believed that such an organization of education would make it possible to overcome social inequality. M. Robespierre approved his project and reported on it to the Convention in July 1793. However, the Convention did not adopt it.