Editing Benjamin Constant (section)

{{Short description|Swiss-French politician and writer (1767–1830)}}
{{about|the European writer and politician|other people and places|Benjamin Constant (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Benjamin Constant
| image               = Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque.png
| caption             = Portrait c. 1820
| office              = [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Member of the Chamber of Deputies]]
| term_start          = 14 April 1819
| term_end            = 8 December 1830
| constituency        = [[Sarthe]] {{small|(1819{{ndash}}24)}}<br />[[Seine (department)|Seine]] [[4th arrondissement of Paris|4th]] {{small|(1824{{ndash}}27)}}<br />[[Bas-Rhin]] [[Bas-Rhin's 1st constituency|1st]] {{small|(1827{{ndash}}30)}}
| office1             = [[Conseil d'État (France)|Member of the Council of State]]
| appointer1          = [[Napoleon I]]
| term_start1         = 20 April 1815
| term_end1           = 8 July 1815
| office2             = [[Tribunat|Member of the Tribunat]]
| term_start2         = 25 December 1799
| term_end2           = 27 March 1802
| constituency2       = [[Léman (department)|Léman]]
| birth_name          = Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1767|10|25|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Lausanne]], Swiss Confederacy
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1830|12|8|1767|10|25|df=yes}}
| death_place         = Paris, Kingdom of France
| party               = [[Republicanism in France|Republican]] (1799–1802)<br />[[Liberal Party (Bourbon Restoration)|Liberals]] (1819{{ndash}}24)<br />[[Liberal Party (Bourbon Restoration)#Decline]] (1824–30)
| alma_mater          = [[University of Edinburgh]]<br />[[University of Erlangen]]
| profession          = {{hlist|Political activist|author|[[political philosopher]]|novelist|politician}}
| module              = {{Infobox writer|embed=yes
| period           = [[18th century in literature|18th]] and [[19th century in literature|19th centuries]]
| genre            = Prose, essays, pamphlets
| subject          = [[Political theory]], liberalism, religion, [[romantic love]]
| movement         = [[Romanticism]], [[classical liberalism]]<ref>[[Ralph Raico]], ''Classical Liberalism and the Austrian School'' – Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2012, p. 222.</ref>
| notableworks     = {{hlist|''Principes de Politique Applicables a Tous les Gouvernements'' (1810)|''[[Adolphe]]'' (1816)|''De la religion considérée dans sa source, ses formes et son développement'' (1824–30)}}
| years_active     = 1792–1830
}}
}}

'''Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|k|ɔː|n|ˈ|s|t|ɑː|n|_|d|ə|r|ə|ˈ|b|ɛ|k}};<ref>[https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Benjamin+Constant "Constant de Rebecque"]. ''[[American&nbsp;Heritage&nbsp;Dictionary&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;English&nbsp;Language]]''.</ref> {{IPA|fr|ɑ̃ʁi bɛ̃ʒamɛ̃ kɔ̃stɑ̃ də ʁəbɛk|lang}}}} (25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply '''Benjamin Constant''', was a [[Swiss people|Swiss]] and [[French people|French]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Germaine de Staël and Benjamin Constant|author=Renée Winegarten|publisher=Yale University Press|date= 2008|page=82|isbn=978-0300119251}} He was granted French nationality in 1797 according to a law passed in 1790 to restore their citizenship to French people exiled on account of their religion.</ref> political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.

A committed republican from 1795, Constant backed the coup d'état of [[18 Fructidor]] (4 September 1797) and the following one on [[18 Brumaire]] (9 November 1799). During the [[Consulat]], in 1800 he became the leader of the Liberal Opposition. Having upset [[Napoleon]] and left France to go to Switzerland then to the [[Kingdom of Saxony]], Constant nonetheless sided with him during the [[Hundred Days]] and became politically active again during the [[French Restoration]]. He was elected [[Député]] in 1818 and remained in post until his death in 1830. Head of the Liberal opposition, known as ''Indépendants'', he was one of the most notable orators of the [[Chamber of Deputies of France]], as a proponent of the [[parliamentary system]]. During the [[July Revolution]], he was a supporter of [[Louis Philippe I]] ascending the throne.

Besides his numerous essays on political and religious themes, Constant also wrote on romantic love. His autobiographical ''Le Cahier rouge'' (1807) gives an account of his love for [[Madame de Staël]], whose protégé and collaborator he became, especially in the [[Coppet group|Coppet circle]], and a successful novella, ''Adolphe'' (1816), are good examples of his work on this topic.<ref>{{cite book |last=Garonna |first=Paolo |title=L'Europe de Coppet – Essai sur l'Europe de demain |publisher=LEP Éditions Loisirs et Pėdagogie |location=Le Mont-sur-Lausanne |date=2010 |page=42 |isbn=978-2606013691 |language=fr}}
</ref>

Constant was a fervent [[Classical liberalism|liberal]] of the early 19th century.<ref>[https://mises.org/library/benjamin-constant-french-liberal-extraordinaire Benjamin Constant: French Liberal Extraordinaire], [[Mises Institute]]</ref><ref>Craiutu, A. (2012), ''A Virtue for Courageous Minds: Moderation in French Political Thought, 1748–1830'', pp. 199, 202–203</ref> He refined the concept of liberty, defining it as a condition of existence that allowed the individual to turn away interference from the state or society.<ref>Edmund Fawcett, ''Liberalism: The Life of an Idea'' (2nd ed. 2018) pp. 33–48</ref> His ideas influenced the [[Trienio Liberal]] movement in Spain, the [[Liberal Revolution of 1820]] in Portugal, the [[Greek War of Independence]], the [[November uprising]] in Poland, the [[Belgian Revolution]], and [[liberalism in Brazil]] and Mexico.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}