23 Prairial
An CCXXXIV
Jacobins
The Jacobin Club was actually just a debating club. But during the Reign of Terror, it became highly important. The members of the Paris club were often also deputies of the National Convention, jurors of the Revolutionary Tribunal or members of the influential Paris Commune. Robespierre used the club to push through his political ideas – and to persecute his enemies. Expulsion from the ranks of the Jacobins often led to arrest and execution. After Robespierre’s fall, the Thermidorians closed the club. At the end of the Directory, it experienced one last brief period of flourishing. But the meetings remained a matter of grand words. The Jacobins offered no resistance when the club was finally closed in 1799.
1789 - 1799
- April 30, 1789 · Deputies of the Estates-General found the Breton Club in Versailles.
- October 1789 · The club moves to Paris. It chooses the former Jacobin monastery in the Rue Saint-Honoré as its meeting place. The name Jacobin Club becomes established.
- 1790 · Jacobin clubs are formed throughout France. They establish links with one another.
- July 1791 · After the king’s flight, the moderate Feuillants split off. The Jacobin Club becomes more radical.
- August 10, 1792 · The Jacobins play a decisive role in the overthrow of the king. Many deputies of the Convention newly elected in September, such as Robespierre, use their influence there.
- September 1793 · The Convention puts terror on the agenda. The Jacobins support the Reign of Terror.
- November 12, 1794 · After Robespierre’s fall, the Jacobin Club is closed.
- 1799 · The Club du Manège becomes the meeting place of the so-called Neo-Jacobins. In the autumn, the club is dissolved by order of Joseph Fouché, police minister of the Directory.
Quotes
The Jacobins have rendered great services to the fatherland, and they are called upon to render it still greater ones.
Couthon, President of the National Convention, 22 December 1793
So, what’s new at the Jacobins?
Cynical question by Saint-Just to Collot and Billaud as they returned, on the night of 8–9 Thermidor, from the Jacobin Club to the Committee of Public Safety — Billaud and Collot had been insulted there and threatened with execution.
The cry 'Down with the Jacobins!' is the same as 'Long live the king!'
Garrau, deputy in the Council of Five Hundred, 14 September 1799.
Le Moniteur
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