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Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (French: [kɔ̃stɑ̃]; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.
Benjamin Constant (born Oct. 25, 1767, Lausanne, Switz.—died Dec. 8, 1830, Paris) was a Franco-Swiss novelist and political writer, the author of Adolphe, a forerunner of the modern psychological novel.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Benjamin Constant was the key thinker in the French classical liberal tradition between Montesquieu and Tocqueville. He was born 25 October 1767 in Lausanne, Switzerland, to Henriette de Chandieu and Juste Constant de Rebecque.
Learn about the life and works of Benjamin Constant, a Swiss-born French writer, journalist, philosopher, and politician. Explore his contributions to liberalism, constitutionalism, and the Enlightenment.
In this often-quoted statement lies the key to Constant’s literary and political success in his own age and his continuing relevance for our own. The period in which he lived - the end of the ancien régime, the Revolution and Terror, the Napoleonic Empire, and the Restoration - had frequently been inimical to personal freedom in France and ...
This article shows how, after the Revolution, Benjamin Constant, who is now recognized as a founding figure of “liberalism,” used public opinion as a substitute for popular sovereignty to theorize political legitimacy and constitution making.
May 11, 2018 · views updated May 14 2018. Constant (de Rebecque), (Henri) Benjamin (1761–1830) French political writer, b. Switzerland. A member of Napoleon's tribunate (1799–1802), he went into exile in 1803. After the Bourbon restoration he was leader of the liberal opposition (1819–22, 1824–30). His chief work was the psychological novel Adolphe ...
