The first circulation of the American constitutional model in Europe: Mably and Brissot, two opposite generations

Authors

  • Fernanda Mazzanti Pepe Universitá di Genova

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17811/hc.v0i8.42

Keywords:

Brissot, Mably, French Revolution, American Constitutional Model

Abstract

This text studies the diffussion of the american model in France between the Ancien Régime and the Revolution through the analisys of two emblematic cases: Mably, who wrote one year before his death a book with reflexions about North-America (1784) and Brissot, whose political project is in fact inspired in the american constitutional model, through the Federal Constitution (1787). In spite of the different points of view about the american case, the common approaches about the identification of a “free government” and how to carry it out and make it durable, can explain the defence that Brissot did on Mably during the French Revolution.

Submission date: 21/09/2006
Acceptance date: 05/12/2006

Author Biography

Fernanda Mazzanti Pepe, Universitá di Genova

“Professore Ordinario” de Historia de las instituciones políticas en la Facultad de Ciencias Políticas de la Universidad de Génova. Tema principal de su actividad investigadora es la historia constitucional entre el final del Antiguo Régimen y la era liberal, analizada desde una perspectiva comparada, y privilegiando también el tema de la circulación de los modelos constitucionales. Entre sus publicaciones destacan: Il nuovo mondo di Brissot. Libertà e istituzioni tra antico regime e rivoluzione, Torino, Giappichelli,1996; L’amministrazione del Comune di Genova tra otto e novecento, Milano, Giuffré, 1998; Profilo istituzionale dello Stato italiano. Modelli stranieri e specificità nazionali (1848-1922), Roma, Carocci, 2004; Culture costituzionali a confronto. Europa e Uniti dall’età delle rivoluzioni all’età contemporanea (a cura di), Genova, Name, 2005.