Editing Classical republicanism (section)

====Corsica====
[[File:Paoli.png|thumb|Portrait of [[Pasquale Paoli]]]]

The first of the Enlightenment republics established in Europe during the 18th century occurred in the small Mediterranean island of [[Corsica]]. Although perhaps an unlikely place to act as a laboratory for such political experiments, Corsica combined a number of factors that made it unique: a tradition of village democracy; varied cultural influences from the Italian city-states, [[Spanish empire]] and [[Kingdom of France]] which left it open to the ideas of the Italian [[Renaissance]], Spanish [[humanism]] and [[French Enlightenment]]; and a geo-political position between these three competing powers which led to frequent power vacuums in which new regimes could be set up, testing out the fashionable new ideas of the age.

From the 1720s the island had been experiencing a series of short-lived but ongoing rebellions against its current sovereign, the Italian city-state of [[Genoa]]. During the initial period (1729–36) these merely sought to restore the control of the Spanish Empire; when this proved impossible, an independent [[Kingdom of Corsica]] (1736–40) was proclaimed, following the Enlightenment ideal of a written [[constitutional monarchy]]. But the perception grew that the monarchy had colluded with the invading power, a more radical group of reformers led by the [[Pasquale Paoli]] pushed for political overhaul, in the form of a constitutional and parliamentary republic inspired by the popular ideas of the Enlightenment.

Its governing philosophy was both inspired by the prominent thinkers of the day, notably the French philosophers Montesquieu and Voltaire and the Swiss theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Not only did it include a permanent national parliament with fixed-term legislatures and regular elections, but, more radically for the time, it introduced [[universal male suffrage]], and it is thought to be the first constitution in the world to grant women the right to vote [[female suffrage]] may also have existed.<ref>Lucien Felli, "La renaissance du Paolisme". M. Bartoli, Pasquale Paoli, père de la patrie corse, Albatros, 1974, p. 29. "There is one area where the pioneering nature of Paoli's institutions is particularly pronounced, and that is in the area of voting rights. Indeed they allowed for female suffrage at a time when French women could not vote."</ref><ref>Philippe-Jean Catinchi et Josyane Savigneau, "Les femmes : du droit de vote à la parité", Le Monde.fr, 31 janvier 2013 {{ISSN|1950-6244}}, consuled on 14 August 2017)</ref> It also extended Enlightened principles to other spheres, including administrative reform, the foundation of a national [[University of Corsica Pasquale Paoli|university at Corte]], and the establishment of a [[Levée en masse|popular standing army]].

The Corsican Republic lasted for fifteen years, from 1755 to 1769, eventually falling to a combination of Genoese and French forces and was incorporated as a province of the Kingdom of France. But the episode resonated across Europe as an early example of Enlightened constitutional republicanism, with many of the most prominent political commentators of the day recognising it to be an experiment in a new type of popular and democratic government. Its influence was particularly notable among the French Enlightenment philosophers: Rousseau's famous work On the Social Contract (1762: chapter 10, book II) declared, in its discussion on the conditions necessary for a functional popular sovereignty, that "''There is still one European country capable of making its own laws: the island of Corsica. valour and persistency with which that brave people has regained and defended its liberty well deserves that some wise man should teach it how to preserve what it has won. I have a feeling that some day that little island will astonish Europe''."; indeed Rousseau volunteered to do precisely that, offering a draft constitution for Paoli'se use.<ref>"Projet de constitution pour la Corse ", published in Œuvres et correspondance inédites de J.J. Rousseau, (M.G. Streckeinsen-Moultou, ed.). Paris, 1861</ref> Similarly, Voltaire affirmed in his ''Précis du siècle de Louis XV'' (1769: chapter LX) that "''Bravery may be found in many places, but such bravery only among free peoples''". But the influence of the Corsican Republic as an example of a sovereign people fighting for liberty and enshrining this constitutionally in the form of an Enlightened republic was even greater among the Radicals of [[Great Britain]] and [[North America]],<ref>Michel Vergé-Franceschi, "Pascal Paoli, un Corse des Lumières", Cahiers de la Méditerranée, 72 | 2006, 97–112.</ref> where it was popularised via [[An Account of Corsica]], by the Scottish essayist [[James Boswell]]. The Corsican Republic went on to influence the American revolutionaries ten years later: the [[Sons of Liberty]], initiators of the [[American Revolution]], would declare Pascal Paoli to be a direct inspiration for their own struggle against the British; the son of [[Ebenezer Mackintosh]] was named Pascal Paoli Mackintosh in his honour, and no fewer than five American counties are named Paoli for the same reason.