The group formed during the Great Sejm as an offshoot of the Forge of Hugo Kołłątaj (Kuźnia Kołłątajska, and hence their alternate name of Huguenots (Hugoniści)), and later the Patriotic Party (Stronnictwo Patriotyczne).
Under the name of Association of Citizens Offering Help and Assistance to the National Magistrate for the Good of the Homeland (Zgromadzenie Obywateli Ofiarujących Pomoc i Posługę Magistraturom Narodowym w Celu Dobra Ojczyzny) they formed a political club (based on French Jacobin Club) which became part of the provisional government of Poland (Temporary Provisional Council, Radza Zastępcza Tymczasowa).
Many of those who remained in Poland took part in various conspirational organizations, such as the Association of Polish Republicans (Towarzystwo Republikanów Polskich).
Eventually, some prominent Jacobins like Józef Zajączek became part of the government of the Duchy of Warsaw and later Congress Poland.
They supported the French Revolution and wanted to transplant most of its ideals to Poland, to abolish monarchy and serfdom, equalize the privileges of the various social classes, nationalize property (as a temporary measure for funding the war), and limit the privileges of the Catholic Church (although unlike radical French Jacobins, their stance was not anti-Christian).