Theobald Wolfe Tone, pioneer of Irish Republicanism, believed the best way to end sectarianism among ‘Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter’ was to drive English rule out of Ireland. A backer of the Universalist ideas born of the Enlightenment, Tone rejected discrimination and institutionalized religion, believing instead that political destinies should rest with the nation's citizens. Thus, he saw Republicanism and its championing of civil liberties and representative government as legitimizing statehood. However, the divisions Tone and the United Irishmen set out to heal nonetheless proved crucial factors in deciding the disastrous outcome of the expected patriotic 1798 Rebellion, which not only failed to achieve military defeat of England but also deepened sectarian hatreds.