1791 to 1793

Literature

Julie ou la Nouvelle Heloise. Jean Jacques Rousseau. French. 1791. Novel. Epistolary. Former lover (male) comes to live with a wife and her husband at the invitation of the husband. Lover leaves because the situation is impossible but is recalled on her deathbed. He promises to care for her children. Intent is to attack hypocritical social morality.

The Rights of Man. Thomas Paine. American. 1791/92. Nonfiction. Defends French Revolution against attacks by Edmund Burke. Civil government exists only through contract with the majority to safeguard individual rights. Revolution OK if "natural rights" are interfered with.

Charlotte Temple. Susannah Haswell Rowson. American. 1791/94. Novel. Heroine is lured from her English home, deserted in New York by a British officer who later repents.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. American. 1791/98. Autobiography. Covers Franklin's many interests: philosophy, politics, religion, literature, practical affairs.

Society

1792. A Parisian mob storms the Tulieres Palace. The Paris commune takes power under Danton.

1792. The French National Convention meets September 21, abolishes the monarchy decrees perpetual banishment for French emigres, and declares September 22 the first day of the Year One for the new French Republic.

1792. The French National Convention issues a proclamation November 19 offering assistance to peoples of all nations who want to overthrow their governments.

1792. Vindication of the Rights of Women is published by English feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

1792. Denmark abandons the slave trade and becomes the first nation to do so.

1792. Eli Whitney's cotton gin will increase U.S. cotton planting, producing an increased demand for slave labor.

Literature

Modern Chivalry. Hugh Henry Breckenridge. American. 1792. Satiric Novel. American Don Quixote. Unflattering picture of manners in the early republic. The evil of men seeking office for which they are not qualified.

"La Marsellaise." Claude DeLisle. French. 1792. Hymn. Hymn of the French Revolution. Made use of by other composers.

Society

1793. Louis XVI goes to the guillotine January 21.

1793. The French Republic declares war February 1 against Britain, Holland and Spain.

1793. France begins a levy of all men capable of bearing arms as the Allies drive republican troops back on all fronts.

1793. The Reign of Terror gathers force at Paris. Marie Antoinette goes to the guillotine October 16. Some 15,000 are guillotined in 3 months at Nantes.

1793. Napoleon Bonaparte, 24, gains prominence for the first time as the French take Toulon from the British in December.

1793. The Fugitive Slave Act, voted by Congress at Philadelphia February 12, makes it illegal for anyone to help a slave escape to freedom or give a runaway slave refuge.