therland, and called for the people of the Republic to be good citizens and to have virtue. Barère focused on four aspects about "la religion de la patrie"; 1) the belief that a citizen would be consecrated to the fatherland at birth, 2) the citizen should then come to love the fatherland, 3) the Republic would teach the people virtues, 4) the fatherland would be the teacher to all. Barère went on to state that "the Republic leaves the guidance of your first years to your parents, but as soon as your intelligence is developed, it proudly claims the rights that it holds over you. You are born for the Republic and not for the pride or the despotism of families." He also said that since citizens were born of the Republic, they should love it above anything else, reasoning that eventually the love for the fatherland would become a passion in everyone and this is how the people of the Republic would be united.
Barère also urged further issues of nationalism and patriotism. He said, "I was a revolutionary. I am a constitutional citizen." He pushed for freedom of press, speech, and thought. Barère felt that nationalism was founded by immeasurable emotions that could only be awakened by participating in national activities such as public events, festivals, and through education. He believed in unity through "diversity and compromise."
In 1793 and 1794, Barère spoke of his doctrine 1) the teaching of national patriotism through an organized system of universal education; 2) the national widespread of patriotic devotion; 3) the concept that one owed his nation his services. Barère also stated that one could serve the nation by giving his labor, wealth, counsel, strength, and/or blood. Therefore, all sexes and ages could serve the fatherland. He outlined his new faith in the fatherland, which replaced the national state religion, Catholicism. Barère was trying to make nationalism a religion. Besides being concerned for the fatherland, Barère believed in universal elementary education. He influenced what children in American schools now do today; that is say the pledge of allegiance, alphabet, and the teaching of the multiplication table. Barère believed that the fatherland could educate all.
9 Thermidor, prison, and later life
Barère was also known to have attacked Maximilien Robespierre by calling him "a pygmy who should not be set on a pedestal". During the Thermidorian Reaction (27 July 1794), after some initial hesitation, he drew up the report outlawing Robespierre which turned up to be ultimately decisive. Some have considered him one of the main conspirators behind the Thermidorian Reaction.
Unfortunately, Barère was still questioned on the grounds of being a terrorist. Before Barère was sentenced to prison, "Carnot defended him on the ground that [Barère] was hardly worse than himself." However, the defense proved ineffective. Nonetheless, in Germinal of the year III (21 March to 4 April 1795), the leaders of Thermidor decreed the arrest of Barère and his colleagues in the Reign of Terror, Jean Marie Collot d'Herbois and Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne.
Barère was sentenced for his betrayal of King Louis XVI (by voting to execute him), for being a traitor to France, and for being a terrorist, and he was imprisoned on Oléron, on his way for transportation to French Guiana. While Barère was in prison, he was very depressed and wrote his own epitaph because he thought he was going to die.
Barère was in prison for two years before the National Convention decided they were going to retry him for death by the guillotine. When Barère found out that he was being retried, someone helped him escape from prison and went to Bordeaux, where he lived in hiding for several years.
In 1795, he was elected to the Directory's Council of Five Hundred, but he was not allowed to take his seat. However, Barère served Napoleon. Under the First Empire, he was used as a secret agent by Napoleon, for whom he carried on a diplomatic correspondence.
Some time afterward, Napoleon placed Barère back in prison, but Barère escaped again. He became a member