Jacques-Pierre Brissot
| Jacques Pierre Brissot de Warville | |
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Brissot portrait by Fouquet (1792)
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Member of the National Convention for Eure-et-Loir |
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In office 20 September 1792 – 30 October 1793 |
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| Preceded by | Étienne Claye |
| Succeeded by | Claude Julien Maras |
| Constituency | Chartres |
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Member of the Legislative Assembly for Seine |
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In office 1 October 1791 – 19 September 1792 |
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| Succeeded by | Antoine Sergent-Marceau |
| Constituency | Paris |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jacques Pierre Brissot 15 January 1754 Chartres, Orléanais, France |
| Died | 31 October 1793 (aged 39) Paris, Seine, France |
| Cause of death | Guillotine |
| Resting place |
Chapelle Expiatoire, Paris 48°52′25″N 2°19′22″E / 48.873611°N 2.322778°ECoordinates: 48°52′25″N 2°19′22″E / 48.873611°N 2.322778°E |
| Nationality | French |
| Political party | Girondin |
| Spouse(s) | Félicité Dupont (m. 1759; his d. 1793) |
| Children | Pierre Augustin Félix Edme Augustin Sylvain Jacques Jérôme Anacharsis |
| Alma mater | University of Orléans |
| Profession | Journalist, publisher |
| Signature |  |
Jacques Pierre Brissot (15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), who assumed the name of de Warville (An English version of Ouaraville, a village where his father owned property), was a leading member of the Girondist movement during the French Revolution. Some sources give his name as Jean Pierre Brissot.
Brissot was born at Chartres, where his father was an innkeeper. He received an education and worked as a law clerk; first in Chartres then in Paris. He later moved to London because he wanted to pursue a literary career. He published many literary articles throughout his time in London. While there, Brissot founded two periodicals that later did not do well and failed. He married Félicité Dupont (1759–1818), who translated English works, including Oliver Goldsmith and Robert Dodsley. They lived in London, and had three children. His first works, Théorie des lois criminelles (1781) and Bibliothèque philosophique du législateur (1782), dealt with philosophy of law topics, and showed the deep influence of ethical precepts theoretised by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In the preface of Théorie des lois criminelles, Brissot explains that he submitted an outline of the book to Voltaire and quotes his answer from 13 April 1778. Théorie des lois criminelles was a plea for penal reform. The pamphlet was extremely provocative and unheard of at the time due to the fact that it went against the government and the queen. Brissot was imprisoned in the Bastille but was later released in September 1784.
Brissot became known as a writer and was engaged on the Mercure de France, the Courrier de l'Europe and other papers. Devoted to the cause of humanity, he proposed a plan for the collaboration of all European intellectuals and started in London a paper, Journal du Lycée de Londres, which was to be the organ of their views. The plan was unsuccessful. Soon after his return to Paris, Brissot was placed in the Bastille in 1784 on the charge of having published a pornographic pamphlet Passe-temps de Toinette against the queen. Brissot had a falling out with Catholicism, and wrote about his disagreements with the church's hierarchal system.
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