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Definition: Jacobins from Philip's Encyclopedia

Political club of the French Revolution. In 1789 Breton members of the States-General met in a Dominican (Fr. 'Jacobin') monastery to form the Jacobin Club. By 1791, it had branches throughout France. By 1792, Robespierre had seized control of the Jacobins and the club adopted more radical policies. In 1793, they engineered the expulsion of the Girondins and the club became an instrument of the Reign of Terror. It collapsed after Robespierre's downfall in 1794.

Jacobinism

From Encyclopedia of Political Theory
The Jacobins were the most radical and egalitarian group involved in the French Revolution. They led the government from June 1793 to July 1794, the most politically radical year of the revolution and also the year of the Terror. During their time in power, they attempted to create a “republic of virtue”—that is, a republic that attempted to purify its citizens of moral corruption. The Jacobins fell from power with the overthrow of Maximilien Robespierre. They were never to achieve power in France again. But they left a long legacy, particularly within France itself, where there continued to be a tradition of Jacobin politics on the left, while on the right the memory of the Jacobin republic has been abhorred. The origins of the Jacobins lay in the Breton club, which was founded shortly after the outbreak of the revolution in 1789 by deputies to the new National Assembly. It became a focus for patriots (supporters of the revolution). The membership of the club rapidly widened, and it…
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Full text Article Jacobin Club

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Political group of the French Revolution , identified with extreme radicalism and violence. Formed in 1789 as the Society of the Friends of the Constitution, it was known as the Jacobin Club because it met in a former convent of the Dominicans (known in Paris as Jacobins). It was originally formed…
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Full text Article Jacobins

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(jăk'Әbĭnz), political club of the French Revolution . Formed in 1789 by the Breton deputies to the States-General, it was reconstituted as the Society of Friends of the Constitution after the revolutionary National Assembly moved (Oct., 1789) to Paris. The club derived its popular name from the…
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Full text Article JACOBINISM

From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
The Jacobins were an anti-aristocratic and republican element in the French Revolution who originally met in the one-time Paris monastery of St Jacques. They sought to put into revolutionary practice the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and others. The Jacobin-inspired slogan ‘Liberty, Equality and…
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Full text Article Jacobins

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
The dominicans were so called in France from the rue St Jacques, the location of their first house in Paris. The French Revolutionary Jacobin Club, founded at Versailles in 1789 as the Breton Club, moved to Paris and met in a former Jacobin convent. Hence its name. Among its famous members were…
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Full text Article Jacobin

From The Macquarie Dictionary
a Dominican friar. Plural: Jacobins a member of a famous club or society of French revolutionaries organised in 1789, so called from the Dominican convent in Paris in which they met. They developed clubs throughout France and worked for the success of the extremist group the Mountain and the Reign…
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Full text Article Jacobinism

From Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought
Named after the Jacobin club in the French Revolution, a society of deputies, led by Robespierre, which acted so as to concentrate power in its own hands, believing that the truth of its vision was sufficient guarantee of its authority to act. Subsequently there were many such clubs, and the term…
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Full text Article Jacobin

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Member of an extremist republican club of the French Revolution founded in Versailles 1789. Helped by Danton 's speeches, they proclaimed the French republic, had the king executed, and overthrew the moderate Girondins 1792–93. Through the Committee of Public Safety, they began the Reign of Terror, …
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Full text Article Jacobin

From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary
pronunciation (14c) 1 :  dominican 2 [ F, fr. Jacobin Dominican; fr. the group's founding in the Dominican convent in Paris ] :  a member of an extremist or radical political group; esp :  a member of such a group advocating egalitarian democracy and engaging in terrorist activities during the…
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Full text Article Jacobin

From Collins English Dictionary
n 1 a member of the most radical club founded during the French Revolution, which overthrew the Girondists in 1793 and, led by Robespierre, instituted the Reign of Terror 2 a leftist or extreme political radical 3 a French Dominican friar 4 ( sometimes not capital ) a variety of fancy pigeon with a…
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Full text Article Anti-Jacobin.

From The Oxford Companion to British History
A weekly journal which ran from November 1797 until July 1798 under the editorship of William Gifford. Its prospectus declared its prejudices in favour of the established institutions of church and state, and its satire was directed against British radicals— *Paine , *Godwin , Holcroft, Thelwall—and…
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