Abstract
Liberalism emerged in France during the late-1790s to deal with the difficult problems faced by the first French Republic. I call it “liberalism” because people like Benjamin Constant and Germaine de Staël began to refer to “liberal” principles in politics, and because they articulated concerns that have remained central to “liberalism” ever since. The specific spurs to their ruminations about modern politics were the voracious nature of revolutionary politics and, especially, the corrosive effects of the Terror on both institutions and culture. They appreciated how difficult it was going to be in the modern postrevolutionary age to protect personal liberty while restoring political stability. They appreciated the complexity of the cultural, juridical, and political world the Revolution had created. And, they were sensitive to the impact of this complex world on the individual.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Jean-Pierre Aguet. “A la veille de 1830: Benjamin Constant, journaliste et député dans le feu de l’action,” in Coppet, Creuset de l’esprit libéral, edited by Lucien Jaume (Aix-en-Provence: Presses Universitaires d’Aix-Marseille, 2000), pp. 99–120.
Benjamin Constant, “De la é des anciens comparée à celle des modernes,” in Ecrits politiques, edited by Marcel Gauchet (Paris: Gallimard, 1997), pp. 589–619; this quote, p. 604.
Jacques Julliard, La reine du monde: essai sur la démocratie d’opinion (Paris: Flammarion, 2009).
Maurice Agulhon, 1848 ou l’apprentissage de la république 1848–1852 (Paris: Seuil, 1973).
Frangois Furet, Interpreting the French Revolution [1978], translated by E. Forster (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981).
James Livesey, Making Democracy in the French Revolution (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001).
Pierre Rosanvallon, Le moment Guizot (Paris: Gallimard, 1985).
Sudhir Hazareesingh, From Subject to Citizen: The Second Empire and the Emergence of Modern French Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998).
Philip Nord, The Republican Moment: Struggles for Democracy in Nineteenth-Century France (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995).
Jean-Fabien Spitz, Le moment républicain en France (Paris: Gallimard, 2005).
Malcolm Crook, Elections in the French Revolution: An Apprenticeship in Democracy 1789–1799 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
Carla Hesse, The Other Enlightenment: How French Women Became Modern (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001).
Lucien Jaume, L’Individu effacé: ou le paradoxe du libéralisme français; and, Jaume, La liberté et la loi: les origins philosophiques du libéralisme (Paris: Fayard, 2000).
Henri Guillemin, Benjamin Constant muscadin 1795–1799 (Paris: Gallimard, 1958).
Copyright information
© 2011 K. Steven Vincent
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vincent, K.S. (2011). Conclusion Une Philosophie Engagée. In: Benjamin Constant and the Birth of French Liberalism. Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230117105_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230117105_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-29239-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-11710-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)