What was the Jacobins Club?

A member of a democratic club established in Paris in 1789.

The Jacobins were a group in the French Revolution that zealously promoted liberty and equality. They were fierce defenders of the French Republic and were devoted to full equality for all citizens.

Their actions became radical.

They pushed for the execution of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. They also were agents of what became known as the Reign of Terror, when anyone suspected of disloyalty to the Republic was at risk of being imprisoned or even executed by guillotine.

Further explanation:

The Jacobin Club was commonly called by that name because in their early days the held their meetings at a former Dominican convent in Paris. (In France, the Dominican monastic order came to be called Jacobins.) Orignially, their official name was the Society of the Friends of the Constitution, which indicated their original emphasis on a constitutional republic replacing an absolute monarchy.

The Jacobins came to be more radical over time. The more moderate members left the group when the main Jacobin faction pushed for the execution of the king in 1791. In 1792 the group changed its official name to the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Liberty and Equality. That name shows their emphasis on insisting on a form of society in which all persons had the same freedoms and equal status. The group turned against not only the aristocracy but also the wealthiest members of the bourgeoisie. Maximilien Robespierre, who led the Reign of Terror, came from the Jacobin faction.