Editing Jacobins (section)

== History ==
=== Foundation ===
When the [[Estates General of 1789 in France]] convened in May–June 1789 at the [[Palace of Versailles]], the Jacobin club, originating as the ''[[Club Breton]]'', comprised exclusively a group of [[Brittany|Breton]] representatives attending those Estates General.<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/> Deputies from other regions throughout France soon joined. Early members included the dominating [[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau|comte de Mirabeau]], Parisian deputy [[Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès|Abbé Sieyès]], [[Dauphiné]] deputy [[Antoine Pierre Joseph Marie Barnave|Antoine Barnave]], [[Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve|Jérôme Pétion]], the [[Henri Grégoire|Abbé Grégoire]], [[Charles Malo François Lameth|Charles Lameth]], [[Alexandre-Théodore-Victor, comte de Lameth|Alexandre Lameth]], [[Artois]] deputy [[Maximilien Robespierre|Robespierre]], the [[Armand, duc d'Aiguillon|duc d'Aiguillon]], and [[Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux|La Revellière-Lépeaux]]. At this time meetings occurred in secret, and few traces remain concerning what took place or where the meetings convened.<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119.">{{EB1911|last= Phillips |first= Walter Alison |author-link= Walter Alison Phillips  |wstitle= Jacobins, The |volume= 15 |pages=117–119 |inline= 1}}</ref>

=== Transfer to Paris ===
By [[the March on Versailles]] in October 1789, the club, still entirely composed of deputies, reverted to being a provincial caucus for [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]] deputies from Brittany. The club was re-founded in November 1789 as the ''Société de la Révolution'', inspired in part by a letter sent from the [[Revolution Society]] of London to the Assembly congratulating the French on regaining their liberty.<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-96833|first=Rémy|last=Duthille|title=London Revolution Society|date=4 October 2007|pages=239–40|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/96833|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8}}</ref><ref name=Alpaugh2014>{{Cite journal|first=Micah|last=Alpaugh|title=The British Origins of the French Jacobins: Radical Sociability and the Development of Political Club Networks|journal=[[European History Quarterly]]|year=2014|volume=44|page=594|doi=10.1177/0265691414546456|s2cid=144331749|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284402102|publisher=SAGE Publications}}</ref><ref name="Kennedy1979">{{Cite journal|first=Michael L.|last=Kennedy|title=The Foundation of the Jacobin Clubs and the Development of the Jacobin Club Network, 1789-1791|journal=The Journal of Modern History|date=December 1979|volume=51|number=4|pages=701–733|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1877163|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|doi=10.1086/241987|jstor=1877163|s2cid=144831898|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

To accommodate growing membership, the group rented for its meetings the refectory of the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] [[Couvent des Jacobins de la rue Saint-Honoré|monastery of the “Jacobins” in the Rue Saint-Honoré]], adjacent to the seat of the Assembly.<ref name=Alpaugh2014/><ref name="Kennedy1979"/> They changed their name to ''Société des amis de la Constitution'' in late January, though by this time, their opponents had already concisely dubbed them "Jacobins", a nickname originally given to French Dominicans because their first house in Paris was in the [[Rue Saint-Jacques, Paris|Rue Saint-Jacques]].<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/><ref name="Kennedy1979"/>

=== Growth ===
[[File:JacobinClubDoor.jpg|thumb|The Jacobin Club was in the Rue Saint-Honoré, Paris.]]
Once in Paris, the club soon extended its membership to others besides deputies. All citizens were allowed to enter, and even foreigners were welcomed: the English writer [[Arthur Young (writer)|Arthur Young]] joined the club in this manner on 18 January 1790. Jacobin Club meetings soon became a place for radical and rousing oratory that pushed for republicanism, widespread education, [[universal suffrage]], separation of church and state, and other reforms.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldhistory.abc-clio.com |title=World History: The Modern Era |publisher=Worldhistory.abc-clio.com |access-date=2012-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010518223334/http://www.worldhistory.abc-clio.com/ |archive-date=18 May 2001 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On 8 February 1790, the society became formally constituted on this broader basis by the adoption of the rules drawn up by [[Antoine Barnave|Barnave]], which were issued with the signature of the duc d'Aiguillon, the president.<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/> The club's objectives were defined as such:
# To discuss in advance questions to be decided by the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Assembly]].
# To work for the establishment and strengthening of [[French Constitution of 1791|the constitution]] in accordance with the spirit of the preamble (that is, of respect for legally constituted authority and the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]]).
# To correspond with other societies of the same kind which should be formed in the realm.<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/>

At the same time the rules of order of election were settled, and the constitution of the club determined. There was to be a president, elected every month, four secretaries, a treasurer, and committees elected to superintend elections and presentations, the correspondence, and the administration of the club. Any member who by word or action showed that his principles were contrary to the constitution and the rights of man was to be expelled.<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/>

By the 7th article the club decided to admit as associates similar societies in other parts of France and to maintain with them a regular correspondence. By 10 August 1790 there were already one hundred and fifty-two affiliated clubs; the [[History of France#Curtailment of Church powers (October 1789 – December 1790)|attempts at counter-revolution]] led to a great increase of their number in the spring of 1791, and by the close of the year the Jacobins had a network of branches all over France. At the peak there were at least 7,000 chapters throughout France, with a membership estimated at a half-million or more.  It was this widespread yet highly centralized organization that gave to the Jacobin Club great power.<ref name=Brinton1930/><ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/>

=== Character ===
[[File:JacobinVignette01.jpg|thumb|upright|Seal of the Jacobin Club from 1789 to 1792, during the transition from absolutism to constitutional monarchy]]
By early 1791, clubs like the Jacobins, the ''[[Cordeliers|Club des Cordeliers]]'' and the [[Society of the Friends of Truth|''Cercle Social'']] were increasingly dominating French political life. Numbers of men were members of two or more of such clubs. Women were not accepted as members of the Jacobin Club (nor of most other clubs), but they were allowed to follow the discussions from the balconies.  The rather high subscription of the Jacobin Club confined its membership to well-off men. The Jacobins claimed to speak on behalf of the people but were themselves not of 'the people': contemporaries saw the Jacobins as a club of the [[bourgeoisie]].<ref name=Shus-3>{{in lang|nl}} Noah Shusterman – ''De Franse Revolutie (The French Revolution).'' Veen Media, Amsterdam, 2015. (Translation of: ''The French Revolution. Faith, Desire, and Politics.'' Routledge, London/New York, 2014.) Chapter 3 (p. 95–139) : The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (summer 1790–spring 1791).</ref>

As far as the central society in Paris was concerned, it was composed almost entirely of [[profession]]al men (such as the lawyer [[Maximilien Robespierre|Robespierre]]) and well-to-do [[bourgeoisie]] (like the brewer [[Antoine Joseph Santerre|Santerre]]). From the start, however, other elements were also present. Besides the teenage son of the [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Duc d'Orléans]], [[Louis Philippe I|Louis Philippe]], a future king of France, aristocrats such as the duc d'Aiguillon, the [[Victor Claude, prince de Broglie|prince de Broglie]], and the [[Louis Marie Antoine, vicomte de Noailles|vicomte de Noailles]], and the bourgeoisie formed the mass of the members. The club further included people like "père" Michel Gérard, a peasant proprietor from Tuel-en-Montgermont, in Brittany, whose rough common sense was admired as the oracle of popular wisdom, and whose countryman's waistcoat and plaited hair were later on to become the model for the Jacobin fashion.<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/>

The Jacobin Club supported the monarchy up until the very [[History of France#Bloodbath in Paris and the Republic established (September 1792)|Eve of the Republic (20 September 1792)]]. They did not support [[Champ de Mars Massacre#Text of the petition|the petition of 17 July 1791 for the king's dethronement]], but instead published their own petition calling for replacement of King [[Louis XVI]].<ref name=Shus-4>{{in lang|nl}} Noah Shusterman – ''De Franse Revolutie (The French Revolution).'' Veen Media, Amsterdam, 2015. (Translation of: ''The French Revolution. Faith, Desire, and Politics.'' Routledge, London/New York, 2014.) Chapter 4 (p. 141–186): The flight of the king and the decline of the French monarchy (summer 1791–summer 1792).</ref>

The departure of the conservative members of the Jacobin Club to form their own [[Feuillant (political group)|Feuillants Club]] in July 1791 to some extent radicalized the Jacobin Club.<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/>

=== Polarization between Robespierrists and Girondins ===
{{further|History of France#War and internal uprisings (October 1791–August 1792)}}
Late 1791, a group of Jacobins in the [[Legislative Assembly (France)|Legislative Assembly]] advocated war with Prussia and Austria. Most prominent among them was [[Jacques Pierre Brissot|Brissot]], other members were [[Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud|Pierre Vergniaud]], [[Claude Fauchet (revolutionist)|Fauchet]], [[Maximin Isnard]], [[Jean-Marie Roland, vicomte de la Platière|Jean-Marie Roland]].<ref name=Shus-4/>

[[Maximilien Robespierre]], also a Jacobin, strongly pleaded against war with Prussia and Austria – but in the Jacobin Club, not in the Assembly where he was not seated. Disdainfully, Robespierre addressed those Jacobin war promoters as 'the faction from the Gironde'; some, not all of them, were indeed from department [[Gironde]]. The Jacobins finally rid itself of Feuillants in its midst; the number of clubs increased considerably, convening became a nationwide fad.<ref>Kennedy, Michael L. “The Best and the Worst of Times: The Jacobin Club Network from October 1791 to June 2, 1793.” The Journal of Modern History 56, no. 4 (1984): 640, 644-646, 648. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1880325.</ref> In March 1792, in retaliation for their opposition to war with Austria the Feuillant ministers were forced out by the Girondins. The Assembly in April 1792 finally decided for war, thus following the '[[Girondins|Girondin]]' line on it, but Robespierre's place among the Jacobins had now become much more prominent.<ref name=Shus-4/>  

From then on, a polarization process started among the members of the Jacobin Club, between a group around Robespierre – after September 1792 called '[[The Mountain|Montagnards]]' or 'Montagne', in English 'the Mountain' – and the Girondins. These groups never had any official status, nor official memberships. The Mountain was not even very homogenous in their political views: what united them was their aversion to the Girondins.<ref name=Shus-6>{{in lang|nl}} Noah Shusterman – ''De Franse Revolutie (The French Revolution).'' Veen Media, Amsterdam, 2015. (Translation of: ''The French Revolution. Faith, Desire, and Politics.'' Routledge, London/New York, 2014.) Chapter 6 (p. 223–269) : The new French republic and its enemies (fall 1792–summer 1793).</ref>

The [[Legislative Assembly (France)|Legislative Assembly]], governing France from October 1791 until September 1792, was dominated by men like Brissot, Isnard and Roland: Girondins. But after June 1792, Girondins visited less and less the Jacobin Club, where Robespierre, their fierce opponent, grew more and more dominant.<ref name=Shus-5>{{in lang|nl}} Noah Shusterman – ''De Franse Revolutie (The French Revolution).'' Veen Media, Amsterdam, 2015. (Translation of: ''The French Revolution. Faith, Desire, and Politics.'' Routledge, London/New York, 2014.) Chapter 5 (p. 187–221) : The end of the monarchy and the September Murders (summer–fall 1792).</ref>

=== Opposition between Montagnards and Girondins in the National Convention ===
{{further|History of France#Bloodbath in Paris and the Republic established (September 1792)}}
On 21 September 1792, after [[History of France#Bloodbath in Paris and the Republic established (September 1792)|the fall of the monarchy]] the title assumed by the Jacobin Club after the promulgation of the constitution of 1791 (''Société des amis de la constitution séants aux Jacobins à Paris'') was changed to ''Société des Jacobins, amis de la liberté et de l'égalité''<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/> (Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality). In the newly elected [[National Convention]], governing France as of 21 September 1792, [[Maximilien Robespierre]] made his comeback in the center of French power.<ref name=Shus-5/> Together with his 25-year-old protégé [[Louis Antoine de Saint-Just]], [[Jean-Paul Marat|Marat]], [[Georges Danton|Danton]] and other associates they took places on the left side on the highest seats of the session room: therefore that group around and led by Robespierre was called [[The Mountain]] (French: ''la Montagne'', ''les Montagnards'').

Some historians prefer to identify a parliamentary group around Robespierre as Jacobins,<ref name=brown/><ref name=guard.>{{cite news |last=Shariatmadari |newspaper=The Guardian |first=David |date=27 January 2015 |title=Is it time to stop using the word 'terrorist'? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2015/jan/27/is-it-time-to-stop-using-the-word-terrorist|access-date=8 July 2017}}</ref> which can be confusing because not all Montagnards were Jacobin and their primal enemies, the Girondins, were originally also Jacobins. By September 1792, Robespierre indeed had also become the dominant voice in the Jacobin Club.<ref name=Shus-6/> Since late 1791, the [[Girondins]] became opponents of Robespierre, taking their place on the right side of the session room of the convention. By this time, they stopped visiting the Jacobin Club.<ref name=Shus-6/>

Those parliamentary groups, such as the Montagnards and the Girondins, never had any official status. As a result, historians estimate the Girondins in the Convention at 150 men strong and the Montagnards at 120. The remaining 480 of the 750 deputies of the convention were called [[the Plain]] (French: ''la Plaine'') and managed to keep some speed in the debates while Girondins and Montagnards were mainly occupied with nagging the opposite side.<ref name=Shus-6/> Most Ministries were manned by friends or allies of the Girondins, but while the Girondins were stronger than the Montagnards outside Paris, inside Paris the Montagnards were much more popular, implying that the public galleries of the convention were always loudly cheering for Montagnards, while jeering at Girondins speaking.<ref name=Shus-6/>

On 6 April 1793, the convention established the ''[[Committee of Public Safety|Comité de salut public]]'' (Committee of Public Prosperity, also translated as Committee of Public Safety) as sort of executive government of nine, later twelve members, always accountable to the National Convention. Initially, it counted no Girondins and only one or two Montagnards, but gradually the influence of Montagnards in the Committee grew.<ref name=Shus-6/>

=== Girondins disbarred from the National Convention ===
{{see also|History of France#Showdown in the Convention (May–June 1793)|Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793}}
Early April 1793, Minister of War [[Jean-Nicolas Pache|Pache]] said to the [[National Convention]] that the 22 leaders of the Girondins should be banned. Later that month, the Girondin [[Marguerite-Élie Guadet|Guadet]] accused the Montagnard [[Jean-Paul Marat|Marat]] of 'preaching plunder and murder' and trying 'to destroy the sovereignty of the people'. A majority of the Convention agreed to put Marat on trial, but the court of justice quickly acquitted Marat. This apparent victory of the Montagnards intensified their antipathies of the Girondins, and more proposals were vented to get rid of the Girondins.<ref name=Shus-6/>

On both 18 and 25 May 1793, the acting president of the convention, Isnard, a Girondin, warned that the disturbances and disorder on the galleries and around the convention would finally lead the country to anarchy and civil war, and he threatened on 25 May: "If anything should befall to the representatives of the nation, I declare, in the name of France, that all of Paris will be obliterated". The next day, Robespierre said in the Jacobin Club that the people should "rise up against the corrupted deputies" in the convention. On 27 May, both Girondins and Montagnards accused the other party of propagating civil war.<ref name=Shus-6/>

On 2 June 1793, the convention was besieged in its [[Tuileries Palace]] by a crowd of around 80,000 armed soldiers, clamorously on the hand of the Montagnards. In a chaotic session a decree was adopted that day by the convention, expelling 22 leading Girondins from the convention, including [[Jean Denis, comte Lanjuinais|Lanjuinais]], Isnard and Fauchet.<ref name=Shus-6/><ref name=bbc,2011>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/robespierre_maximilien.shtml |title=Historic Figures: Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) |publisher=BBC |access-date=18 August 2011}}</ref>

=== Montagnard rule and civil war ===
{{further|History of France#Counter-revolution subdued (July 1793–April 1794)|Reign of Terror|Fall of Maximilien Robespierre}}
Around June 1793, [[Maximilien Robespierre]] and some of his associates (Montagnards) gained greater power in France.<ref name=Shus-7>{{in lang|nl}} Noah Shusterman – ''De Franse Revolutie (The French Revolution).'' Veen Media, Amsterdam, 2015. (Translation of: ''The French Revolution. Faith, Desire, and Politics.'' Routledge, London/New York, 2014.) Chapter 7 (p. 271–312) : The federalist revolts, the Vendée and the beginning of the Terror (summer–fall 1793).</ref> Many of them, like Robespierre himself, were Jacobin: [[Joseph Fouché|Fouché]],<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Fouché, Joseph, Duke of Otranto |volume=10 |pages=734–736}}</ref> [[Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois|Collot d'Herbois]],<ref name=Shus-7/> [[Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne|Billaud-Varenne]],<ref name=Billaud>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Billaud-Varenne, Jacques_Nicolas |volume=3 |pages=993–994}}</ref> [[Jean-Paul Marat|Marat]],<ref name=Shus-7/> [[Georges Danton|Danton]],<ref name=encybrit,Danton>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9028728/Georges-Danton|title=Georges Danton profile|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> [[Louis Antoine de Saint-Just|Saint-Just]].<ref>Hampson, Norman (1991). ''Saint-Just''. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, Ltd. Pages 78–79.</ref> Three other powerful Montagnards<ref name=Shus-7/> were not known as Jacobin: [[Bertrand Barère|Barère]],<ref name=Barè>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Barère de Vieuzac, Bertrand |volume=3 |pages=397–398}}</ref> [[Jacques Hébert|Hébert]]<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Hébert, Jacques René |volume=13 |page=167}}</ref> and [[Georges Couthon|Couthon]].<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Couthon, Georges |volume=7 |page=337}}</ref> In 'culture wars' and history writing after 1793 however, the group around Robespierre dominating French politics in June 1793–July 1794 was often designated as 'Jacobins'.<ref name=brown/>
Many of these Montagnards (and Jacobins) entered, or were already, in the ''de facto'' executive government of France, the [[Committee of Public Safety|Committee of Public Prosperity (or Public Safety)]]: Barère was in it since April 1793<ref name=Shus-8/> until at least October 1793,<ref name=Shus-7/> Danton served there from April until July 1793,<ref name=encybrit,Danton/> Couthon<ref>Colin Jones, ''The Longman Companion to the French Revolution'' (London: Longman Publishing Group, 1990), 90-91</ref> and Saint-Just<ref>Hampson, Norman (1991). ''Saint-Just''. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, Ltd. Page 111.</ref> had entered the Committee in May, Robespierre entered it in July,<ref name=Shus-7/> Collot d'Herbois<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Collot d'Herbois, Jean Marie |volume=6 |pages=694}}</ref> in September and Billaud-Varenne<ref name=Billaud/> also around September 1793.
Robespierre for his steadfast adherence to and defence of his views received the nickname and reputation of ''l'Incorruptible'' (The Incorruptible or The Unassailable).{{sfn|Thompson|1988|p=174}}

Several deposed Girondin-Jacobin Convention deputies, among them [[Jean-Marie Roland, vicomte de la Platière|Jean-Marie Roland]], [[Jacques Pierre Brissot|Brissot]], Pétion, [[Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvrai|Louvet]], [[François Buzot|Buzot]] and [[Marguerite-Élie Guadet|Guadet]], left Paris to help organize [[Federalist revolts|revolts]] in more than 60 of the 83 [[Departments of France|departments]] against the politicians and Parisians, mainly Montagnards, that had seized power over the Republic. The government in Paris called such revolts 'federalist' which was not accurate: most did not strive for regional autonomy but for a different central government.<ref name=Shus-7/>

In October 1793, 21 former Girondin Convention deputies were sentenced to death for supporting an [[Federalist revolts#Normandy and Brittany|insurrection in Caen]].<ref name=Shus-7/> In March 1794, the Montagnard Hébert and some followers were sentenced to death; in April the Montagnard Danton and 13 of his followers were sentenced to death; in both cases after insinuation by Robespierre in the Convention that those "internal enemies" were promoting 'the triumph of tyranny'.<ref name=Shus-8>{{in lang|nl}} Noah Shusterman – ''De Franse Revolutie (The French Revolution).'' Veen Media, Amsterdam, 2015. (Translation of: ''The French Revolution. Faith, Desire, and Politics.'' Routledge, London/New York, 2014.) Chapter 8 (p. 313–356) :The Terror (fall 1793–summer 1794).</ref> Meanwhile, the Montagnard-dominated government resorted also to harsh measures to repress what they considered counter-revolution, conspiracy<ref name=Shus-8/><ref name=Shus-7/> and "[[Law of Suspects|enemies of freedom]]" in the provinces outside Paris, resulting in 17,000 death sentences between September 1793 and July 1794 in all of France.<ref name=EncyBrit>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Reign-of-Terror |title=Reign of Terror |access-date=19 April 2017| encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica|date=2015}}</ref><ref>[https://www.marxists.org/history/france/revolution/timeline.htm 'Principal Dates and Time Line of the French Revolution']. marxists.org. Retrieved 21 April 2017.</ref>

In late June 1794, three colleagues on the [[Committee of Public Safety|Committee of Public Prosperity/Safety]] – Billaud-Varenne, Collot d'Herbois and Carnot – called Robespierre a dictator. On 10 Thermidor, Year II (28 July 1794), at some time in the evening, [[Louis Legendre]] was sent out with troops to arrest leading members of the Montagnards at the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]] and the Jacobin Club itself where members had been gathering every Saturday evening.<ref name="Reglement1791">{{cite book |title=Projet de réglement pour la Société des amis de la Constitution: séante aux Jacobins de Paris |trans-title=Draft regulation for the Society of Friends of the Constitution: meeting at the Jacobins of Paris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CMMCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR4 |date=1791 |location=Paris |publisher=The French Patriot |language=fr |access-date=10 June 2019}}</ref> Robespierre and 21 associates including the Jacobin Saint-Just and the Montagnard Couthon [[9 Thermidor (Fall of Robespierre)|were sentenced to death by the National Convention and guillotined]].<ref name=Shus-8/>

Probably because of the high level of repressive violence – but also to discredit Robespierre and associates as solely responsible for it{{sfn|Schama|1989|page=851}} – historians have taken up the habit to roughly label the period June 1793–July 1794 as '[[Reign of Terror]]'. Later and modern scholars explain that high level of repressive violence occurred at a time when France was menaced by civil war and by a coalition of foreign hostile powers, requiring the discipline of the Terror to mold France into a united Republic capable of resisting this double peril.<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/><ref name=Haydon2006>{{cite book |editor1-last=Haydon |editor1-first=Colin |editor2-last=Doyle |editor2-first=William |editor2-link=William Doyle (historian) |title=Robespierre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VM5hh2Ssde0C&pg=PA260 |year=2006 |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=260–61 |isbn=978-0521026055 |access-date=19 April 2015}}</ref>

=== Closure ===
{{See also|Thermidorian Reaction|First White Terror}}
[[File:Clôture de la salle des Jacobins 1794.jpg|thumb|Engraving "Closing of the Jacobin Club, during the night of 27–28 July 1794, or 9–10 Thermidor, year 2 of the Republic"]]

With the execution of Robespierre and other leading Montagnards and Jacobins, began the [[Thermidorian Reaction]]. The Jacobins became targets of Thermidorian and anti-Jacobin papers,<ref name="chapter">{{Cite book|last=Gendron|first=François|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lp2tlV5sHMgC|title=The Gilded Youth of Thermidor|year=1993|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|translator=James Cookson|chapter= 1. The Awakening of Moderate Opinion: The Closure of the Jacobin Club|location=Montreal|isbn=0-7735-0902-X}} Originally in French.</ref> with Jacobins lamenting counterrevolutionary pamphlets "poisoning public opinion".{{sfn|Gendron|1993|page=18}} The Jacobins disavowed the support they gave Robespierre on 9 Thermidor, yet supported an unpopular return to the Terror.{{sfn|Gendron|1993|page=23}} Meanwhile, the society's finances fell into disarray{{sfn|Gendron|1993|page=24}} and membership dipped to 600.{{sfn|Gendron|1993|page=23}} Further, they were linked to ongoing trials of prominent members of the Terror involved in atrocities in [[Nantes]], especially [[Jean-Baptiste Carrier]].{{sfn|Gendron|1993|page=19}}

Organized gangs formed, the ''jeunesse doree'' or [[Muscadins]], who harassed and attacked Jacobin members, even assailing the Jacobin Club hall in Paris.<ref name="chapter"/> On 21 Brumaire, the Convention refused to support enforcement of protection of the club.{{sfn|Gendron|1993|page=26}} The Committee of General Security decided to close the Jacobins' meeting hall late that night, resulting in it being padlocked at four in the morning.{{sfn|Gendron|1993|page=27-8}}

The next meeting day, 22 Brumaire (12 November 1794), without debate the National Convention passed a decree permanently closing the Jacobin Club by a nearly unanimous vote.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Archives Parlementaires de 1787 à 1860 – Première série (1787-1799)|journal=Archives Parlementaires de la Révolution Française|volume=101|pages=167–8|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/arcpa_0000-0000_2005_num_101_1_18097_t1_0167_0000_2|location=Lyon, France|publisher=Persée|language=fr|editor1=Marie-Claude Baron|editor2=Corinne Gomez-Le Chevanton|editor3=Françoise Brunel|year=2005|issue=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TOBBAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP4|title=Convention Nationale: Séance du 22 Brumaire|last=de La Touche|first=Méhée|journal=L'Ami des Citoyens: Journal du Commerce et des Arts|publisher=Tallien and a Societe de Patriotes|location=Paris|date=13 November 1794|number=23|page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Corinne |last1=Gomez-Le Chevanton |first2=Françoise |last2=Brunel |translator-last=Johnson |translator-first=Joan |title=The National Convention as Reflected in the Parliamentary Archives |url=https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_AHRF_381_0011--the-national-convention-as-reflected-in.htm |date=July 2015 |journal=Annales historiques de la Révolution française |volume=381 |number=3 |page=24 |publisher=Armand Colin |access-date=29 March 2022}}</ref>{{sfn|Gendron|1993|page=28}}  Within a year 93% of the Jacobin clubs were closed throughout the country.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2PwoKacYyYC&q=toulon&pg=PA25|title=The Jacobin Clubs in the French Revolution, 1793-1795|first=Michael L.|last=Kennedy|date=2 May 2000|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-57181-186-8 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Durant|first1=Will|first2=Ariel|last2=Durant|chapter=Chapter IV. The Convention|title=The Age of Napoleon – A History of European Civilization from 1789-1815|url=https://archive.org/details/TheStoryOfCivilizationcomplete/Durant_Will_-_The_story_of_civilization_11/page/n7/mode/2up|series=The Story of Civilization Part XI|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1975|page=83}}</ref>

=== Reunion of Jacobin adherents ===
An attempt to reorganize Jacobin adherents was the foundation of the ''Réunion d'amis de l'égalité et de la liberté'', in July 1799, which had its headquarters in the ''[[Salle du Manège]]'' of the [[Tuileries]], and was thus known as the ''Club du Manège''. It was patronized by [[Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras|Barras]], and some two hundred and fifty members of [[French Directory|the two councils of the legislature]] were enrolled as members, including many notable ex-Jacobins. It published a newspaper called the ''Journal des Libres'', proclaimed the apotheosis of Robespierre and [[François-Noël Babeuf|Babeuf]], and attacked the [[French Directory|Directory]] as a ''royauté pentarchique''. But public opinion was now preponderantly moderate or royalist, and the club was violently attacked in the press and in the streets. The suspicions of the government were aroused; it had to change its meeting-place from the Tuileries to the church of the Jacobins (Temple of Peace) in the Rue du Bac, and in August it was suppressed, after barely a month's existence. Its members avenged themselves on the Directory by supporting [[Napoleon]] Bonaparte.<ref name="Phillips 1911, pp. 117–119."/><ref name="Maximilien Robespierre">{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/robespierre-terror.html |title=Modern History Sourcebook: Maximilien Robespierre: Justification of the Use of Terror |publisher=Internet Modern History Sourcebook. |access-date=2012-07-25}}</ref>