The Test of the Society of United Irishmen was a pledge taken by members of the Society of United Irishmen, a republican political society in the Kingdom of Ireland, who organised a 1798 insurrection. As the Society, despairing of reform, began to arm and drill, it amended the original wording to accommodate greater militancy and the need for secrecy. Under the Insurrection Act of 1796, the administration of the test became a capital offense. There were local variants, and overseas societies of United Irish exiles, convicts, and sympathisers framed their own tests.