Henri-Benjamin Constant De Rebeque Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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French politician and writer Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebeque (1767–1830), born in Switzerland and educated in Scotland and Germany, was an important advocate of liberal politics in post-revolutionary France.

Although Constant was not in France during the French Revolution (1789–1799), he returned soon after the Reign of Terror and dove into political life. He opposed Napoleon Bonaparte strongly enough that the dictator ousted him from the government and exiled him for more than ten years. During his exile, Constant wrote some of his most important political theory (including Principles of Politics in 1810), as well as an influential romantic novel (Adolphe in 1816) and much of his lifelong project on the history of ancient religion (De la religion from 1824–1831). He also wrote a powerful critique of Napoleon’s rule in 1814 that would strike a chord with twentieth-century readers contemplating the totalitarianisms of their time (The Spirit of Conquest and Usurpation). Despite his long opposition to Napoleon, he agreed to write a constitution for the new imperial regime when Napoleon returned to power briefly in 1815. Although never implemented, his plan influenced later constitutional experiments in France and elsewhere. Following the Bourbon restoration in 1814, Constant returned to politics, occupying a seat in the Chamber of Deputies from 1819 to 1822 and 1824 to 1830, where his spirited rhetoric helped to create a strong opposition and foster a partisan style of politics on the British model.

Constant was one of the first writers to use the word liberal to describe his political stance. Strongly influenced by the example of Britain’s constitutional monarchy, he spoke out forcefully on behalf of limited government, a free press, and religious toleration. In his more theoretical writings, he followed Scottish thinkers David Hume and Adam Smith in praising commercial society, but he was more interested in the political challenges of instituting and governing such societies than these thinkers had been, and he explored questions about institutional design in more detail. He defended a system of representative government that would be resistant to the consolidation of authority and the arbitrary use of power. His institutional scheme included checks and balances between parts of government, a gradual expansion of suffrage in conjunction with a property requirement, a “neutral power” in the monarch to help adjudicate among the various active powers, and a new style of federalism that would leave decisions in the hands of local institutions whenever practicable. The July Revolution of 1830, just months before his death, finally realized some of the measures that he had advocated.

Among political theorists, Constant is best known for his 1819 lecture “On the Liberty of the Ancients Compared with That of the Moderns,” which argued that modern peoples should not pursue the form of liberty associated with ancient Sparta and Rome. Instead of requiring constant involvement in politics, sacrifice for the public good, and warlike virtues, modern nations should try to leave their citizens free to pursue private happiness and self-development. In other writings, he voiced anxiety about commercial society’s tendency to foster utilitarianism and materialism, and he investigated the history of ancient religion, seeking insight into how religious feeling could escape the bonds of priestly and political authority and be made compatible with modern liberty.

Bibliography:

Constant, Benjamin. Political Writings, edited by Biancamaria Fontana. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments, edited by Etienne Hofmann, translated by Dennis O’Keeffe. Indianapolis, Ind.: Liberty Fund, 2003.
Fontana, Biancamaria. Benjamin Constant and the Post-revolutionary Mind. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
Holmes, Steven. Benjamin Constant and the Making of Modern Liberalism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984.
Rosenblatt, Helena. Liberal Values: Benjamin Constant and the Politics of Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.