Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just (1767-1794), a radical political leader during the French Revolution, was a member of the ruling Jacobin group in Paris during the Reign of Terror.

Louis de Saint-Just was born on Aug. 25, 1767, in Decize, the son of an army officer. After a period of schooling, he ran away from home to Paris, taking with him part of the family silver. He studied law for a time and also published a burlesque epic which was a mixture of the crudely erotic and of sharp criticism of the government and society of his day.

When the Revolution broke out in 1789, the youthful Saint-Just gave it his enthusiastic support, and he published in 1791 The Spirit of the Revolution and of the Constitution of France. He was too young to be elected to the Legislative Assembly that year, but in September 1792 he was elected a member...