Question: who were the members of the jacobins club

title: Jacobin
text: Maximilien Robespierre entered the political arena at the very beginning of the Revolution , having been elected to represent Artois at the Estates General . Robespierre was viewed as the quintessential political force of the Jacobin Movement , thrusting ever deeper the dagger of liberty within the despotism of the Monarchy . As a disciple of Rousseau , Robespierre 's political views were rooted in Rousseau 's notion of the social contract , which promoted `` the rights of man '' . Robespierre particularly favored the rights of the broader population to eat , for example , over the rights of individual merchants . `` I denounce the assassins of the people to you and you respond , ' let them act as they will . ' In such a system , all is against society ; all favors the grain merchants . '' Robespierre famously elaborated this conception in his speech on 2 December 1792 : `` What is the first goal of society ? To maintain the imprescribable rights of man . What is the first of these rights ? The right to exist . ''