Overview

Condorcet (1743-1794) was the last of the great eighteenth-century French philosophes and one of the most fervent americanistes of his time. A friend of Franklin, Jefferson, and Paine and a member of the American Philosophical Society, he was well informed and enthusiastic about the American Revolution. Condorcet's writings on the American Revolution, the Federal Constitution, and the new political culture emerging in the United States constitute milestones in the history of French political thought and of French attitudes toward the United States. These remarkable texts, however, have not been available in modern editions or translations. This book presents first or new translations of all of Condorcet's major writings on the United States, including an essay on the impact of the American Revolution on Europe; a commentary on the Federal Constitution, the first such commentary to be published in the Old World; and his Eulogy of Franklin, in which Condorcet paints a vivid picture of his recently deceased friend as the archetype of the new American man: self-made, practical, talented but modest, tolerant and free of prejudice-the embodiment of reason, common sense, and the liberal values of the Enlightenment.

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9780271053820

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Scholars and aficianados of the early national period of U.S. history who have been fascinated by the commentaries of Crevecoeur s Letters from an American Farmer . . . and de Tocqueville s Democracy in America should take note of Guillame Ansart s addition to this significant genre of interpretations of the American Revolution and the subsequent fledgling republic. Condorcet: Writings on the United States adds another significant dimension to the discussion, despite the fact that this last of the philosophes never visited the New World. . . . We should all thank Guillaume Ansart for compiling this anthology. Thomas C. Sosnowski, H-France Review

Scholars and <em>aficianados </em>of the early national period of U.S. history who have been fascinated by the commentaries of Crevecoeur's <em>Letters from an American Farmer . . . </em>and de Tocqueville's <em>Democracy in America </em>should take note of Guillame Ansart's addition to this significant genre of interpretations of the American Revolution and the subsequent fledgling republic. <em>Condorcet: Writings on the United States </em>adds another significant dimension to the discussion, despite the fact that this 'last' of the <em>philosophes </em>never visited the New World. . . . We should all thank Guillaume Ansart for compiling this anthology. </p>--Thomas C. Sosnowski, <em>H-France Review</em></p>

Scholars and aficianados of the early national period of U.S. history who have been fascinated by the commentaries of Crevecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer . . . and de Tocqueville's Democracy in America should take note of Guillame Ansart's addition to this significant genre of interpretations of the American Revolution and the subsequent fledgling republic. Condorcet: Writings on the United States adds another significant dimension to the discussion, despite the fact that this 'last' of the philosophes never visited the New World. . . . We should all thank Guillaume Ansart for compiling this anthology. --Thomas C. Sosnowski, H-France Review

Scholars and <em>aficianados </em>of the early national period of U.S. history who have been fascinated by the commentaries of Crevecoeur s <em>Letters from an American Farmer . . . </em>and de Tocqueville s <em>Democracy in America </em>should take note of Guillame Ansart s addition to this significant genre of interpretations of the American Revolution and the subsequent fledgling republic. <em>Condorcet: Writings on the United States </em>adds another significant dimension to the discussion, despite the fact that this last of the <em>philosophes </em>never visited the New World. . . . We should all thank Guillaume Ansart for compiling this anthology. </p> Thomas C. Sosnowski, <em>H-France Review</em></p>

This excellent book offers easy access to the thinking of an important French philosophe, Condorcet, on the early days of the United States. With this collection, the reader can better understand how the American Revolution was viewed in Europe in the eighteenth century; how Franklin came to represent the perfect universal philosophe while remaining distinctively American; and how critical analyses of the American Constitution could have partly shaped some of the principles in its various French counterparts. Laurence Mall, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Author Information

Guillaume Ansart is Associate Professor of French Literature at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.

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