Formed in Versailles by deputies from Brittany during the Estates-General of 1789, the earliest meetings were secretive and few records remain regarding their content. Soon, other members from the rest of France joined, swelling their ranks. Mirabeau controlled their earliest incarnations, joined by Abbe Sieyes, Abbe Gregoire, Charles Lameth, Antoine Barnave, duc d’Aiguillon and Maximilien Robespierre.

During the French Revolution, the radical phase known as the Reign of Terror came to and end with the Thermidorian Reaction. The Committee of Public Safety took a vote on executing Maximilien Robespierre, Antoine de Saint-Just and other leaders of the Jacobin Club. This event began on July 27, 1794, also known as 9 Thermidor Year II of the French Revolutionary Calendar. The National Convention was soon dissolved and the Executive Directory came to power.