Benjamin Constant
Benjamin Constant | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Hercule de Roche, c. 1820 | |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 14 April 1819 – 8 December 1830 | |
| Constituency | Sarthe (1819–24) Seine 4th (1824–27) Bas-Rhin 1st (1827–30) |
| Member of the Council of State | |
| In office 20 April 1815 – 8 July 1815 | |
| Appointed by | Napoleon I |
| Member of the Tribunat | |
| In office 25 December 1799 – 27 March 1802 | |
| Constituency | Léman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque 25 October 1767 Lausanne, Swiss Confederacy |
| Died | 8 December 1830 (aged 63) Paris, Kingdom of France |
| Party | Republican (1799–1802) Liberals (1819–30) |
| Education | University of Edinburgh University of Erlangen |
| Profession |
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| Writing career | |
| Years active | 1792–1830 |
| Period | 18th and 19th centuries |
| Genres | Prose, essays, pamphlets |
| Subjects | Political theory, liberalism, religion, romantic love |
| Notable works |
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Movements | Romanticism, classical liberalism |
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French 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). He became the leader of the Liberal opposition in 1800, during the Consulate. 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, drafting the Charter of 1815, and became politically active again during the Bourbon Restoration. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1818 and remained in office until his death in 1830. As the head of the Liberal opposition, known as Indépendants, Constant was one of the most notable orators of the Chamber 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 circle, and a successful novella, Adolphe (1816), are good examples of his work on this topic. Constant was a fervent liberal of the early 19th century. 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.