Editing Jacobins (section)

=== 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."/>