L’idée de la république universelle pendant la Révolution Française

The idea of a universal republic as a global democratic state was deeply rooted in the enlightenment cosmopolitanism. Its conservative, anarchic and libertine version is represented by L. Ch. Fougeret de Montbron, the author of Le Cosmopolite ou citoyen du monde (1750). The person who is considered to be the father of the idea of the European community is I. Castel de Saint-Pierre, the author of Projet pour rendre la paix perpétuelle en Europe (1713-1717). In this work he proposed a federation of European states with different political systems, which would conclude a treaty of perpetual peace. The continuator of Saint-Pierre’s ideas was J.J. Rousseau, who undertook the publication of his manuscripts left behind after his death in 1743. Rousseau adopted the ideas of his predecessor, but in his own essays Sur le système de paix perpétuelle (1741), Projet d`une paix perpétuelle et générale entre les puissances de l`Europe (1747), Extrait du Projet de paix perpétuelle de M. l`abbé de Saint-Pierre he gave them a new meaning. Rousseau saw the world community as a federation of small republics or patriarchal communities. Another important philosopher, who during the French Revolution took up the idea of universal republic was P.S. Maréchal, who saw a future republic as a federation of egalitarian patriarchal communities. Maréchal was a proponent of Polish national liberation and Poland’s rebirth as a democratic state.