Jacobin

In the context of the French Revolution, a Jacobin originally meant a member of the Jacobin Club (1789-1794). But even while the Club still existed, the name of Jacobins had been popularly applied to all promulgators of extreme revolutionary opinions; "Jacobin democracy" for example is synonymous with totalitarian democracy. In contemporary France this term refers to the concept of a centralised Republic, with power concentrated in the national government, at the expense of local or regional governments. Similarly, Jacobinism sought to stamp out minority languages in France, such as Breton, Basque, Provençal and Alsatian, which it perceived as reactionary. This influenced French educational policy until well into the twentieth century.

Allegorical Usage

The conventionalized scrawny, French revolutionary sans-culottes Jacobin, was developed from about 1790 by British satirical artists James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson and George Cruikshank. It was commonly contrasted with the stolid stocky conservative and well-meaning John Bull, dressed like an English country squire.

Related Topics:
Sans-culottes - Jacobin - 1790 - Satirical - James Gillray - Thomas Rowlandson - George Cruikshank - John Bull

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~