Adrien Duquesnoy

Who was Adrien Duquesnoy?

Adrien Dusquenoy was a leading figure in the French Revolution.

Dusquenoy was born in Briey. He was elected as a deputy for Nancy, where he had been Mayor, for the third estate in the Estates General of 1789. He took part in the Storming of the Bastille, where he remarked famously, "Yes, truly we shall be free! Our hands will never wear shackles again."

He subsequently joined the National Convention, where he was regarded as a moderate. He came under the suspicion of the Committee of Public Safety late in the 'Reign of Terror', but was saved from the guillotine by the Thermidorian Reaction.

Under Napoleon, he worked at the Ministry of the Interior.