They were led by Jan Frans Vonck and were opposed to the more conservative "Statists", although they did initially ally with them for the sake of liberating the Southern Netherlands.

[4] The Vonckists called for Belgian independence from the Habsburg monarchy under a popular government along the model seen during the French Revolution.

After the proclamation of the United Belgian States in January 1790, the Vonckists were denounced as anticlerical by the Statists and many were hunted down by mobs in what was known as the "Summer Terror".

[4] Due to the initial persecutions by the Statists and the later suppression of the revolution by the Habsburgs, many Vonckists would flee to France.

Most Vonckists did not particularly want to change anything about the status of the Catholic Church and religion, though a small faction was anti-clerical.