… legitimacy to do so, however, the clubs were accused of undermining and usurping state power. Practices > Politics & Society Places > Clubs & Societies Keywords Clubs Crime Debate Democracy French Revolution Gender Law Politics … to do so. The two dynamics produced a toxic politics: while the clubs externalised their internal conflicts, polarising society, they also claimed authority that the constitution did not confer to them. The principle of popular sovereignty … des Arts in 1784. Jacques Pierre Brissot, a leading Jacobin by 1792, helped found the Société des Amis des Noirs (Society for Friends of the Blacks) in February 1788. 5 This club was countered by a group of 120 plantation owners, who …