<span>The repression accelerated in June and July 1794, a period called la Grande Terreur (the Great Terror), and ended in the coup of 9 Thermidor Year II (27 July 1794), leading to the Thermidorian Reaction, in which several instigators of the Reign of Terror were executed, including Saint-Just and Robespierre.
driven by economic ambitions and a sense that the United States was “destined” to span the entire continent, the war also raised the issue of how acquisition of such a large territory would affect the balance between slave and free states.