BOOK: Anthony MERGEY & Arnault SKORNICKI (eds.), The age of Du Pont de Nemours. Politics, law and physiocracy in the Ancien Régime to the American republic [Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, ed. Gregory BROWN (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2025), 400 p. ISBN 9781836242857, 60 GBP

(image source: Liverpool UP)

Abstract:

Pierre-Samuel Du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) is best known as a significant Enlightenment Physiocrat and economist, and, sometimes, as the ancestor of the famous industrial dynasty. But his thought and action are of an often-unsuspected richness. From Louis XV to the Restoration, between France and his American exiles, Du Pont de Nemours established himself as a prominent public figure, exploring an astonishing variety of issues, beginning as a bold reformer of the monarchy before becoming a moderate Republican. Bringing together an interdisciplinary team, this edited volume explores the myriad facets of Du Pont, as journalist, political thinker, administrator, publisher, legislator, diplomat, jurist, entrepreneur, playwright, and more. This book aims to reveal some of his most remarkable feature: it takes him out of solely the realm of physiocratic studies and the history of economic thought, and focuses on his thought and action, as well as on the legal history, administration, political, social, and even religious ideas. Far from being a pale reflection of a century marked by great democratic revolutions and the rise of capitalism, his work and his career mark the dimensions of a new world that he helped to shape.

On the editors:

Arnault Skornicki is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Paris Nanterre and a member of the ISP. A specialist in the history of political and economic thought, he is currently completing a book on the "roi citoyen" in France and the United Kingdom in the 18th century. Anthony Mergey is a professor of legal history at Paris-Panthéon-Assas University and a member of the Institut d'histoire du droit. His research focuses primarily on the history of political ideas, the history of the state, and the history of administration in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Table of contents:

PREFACE | FOREWORD Anthony MERGEY & Arnault SKORNICKI | Introduction. Pierre-Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, a Journey through the 18th Century

I. ACTION PUBLIQUE, BONHEUR PRIVÉ | PUBLIC ACTION, PRIVATE HAPPINESS Julia ABRAMSON | Family Business at Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours & Cie.: Huguenot Connections, Credit, and Capital in Post-Revolutionary France and AmericaII. UN JURISTE EN ACTION | A LAWYER IN ACTION Jean-Baptiste MASMÉJAN | Du Pont de Nemours et la question hospitalière: un éclairage des enjeux sanitaires à la fin du dix-huitième siècle Sébastien LE GAL | Du Pont De Nemours and the Maintenance of Public Order Thérence CARVALHO | *Abolir la contrainte par corps: le combat du jurisconsulte Du Pont de Nemours *III. UN PENSEUR POLITIQUE À L’EPREUVE DE LA RÉVOLUTION ET DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE | A POLITICAL THINKER CHALLENGED BY THE REVOLUTION AND THE REPUBLIC Thierry DEMALS & Alexandra HYARD | Politique et économie politique chez Pierre-Samuel Du Pont:Les annotations au Contrat social de Jean-Jacques Rousseau Christophe LE DIGOL | From One World to Another. How Du Pont de Nemours became a Revolutionary Liana VARDI | A Physiocratic Mandate: Du Pont de Nemours and l’Historien Annie LÉCHENET | Du Pont de Nemours et la république des ‘propriétaires du sol’IV. GUERRE ET PAIX ENTRE NATIONS | WAR AND PEACE BETWEEN NATIONS Antonella ALIMENTO | Commercial Treaties and the Emergence of a Political Economy of Peace: Dupont de Nemours, Inspirer of the Eden Treaty and Supporter of the Renewal of the Pacte de Famille (1782-1790) Alfred STEINHAUER |* Sur l’intérêt bien entendu des nations éclairées: la correspondance entre Thomas Jefferson et Du Pont de Nemours à propos de l’affaire de la Louisiane * Simona PISANELLI | Du Pont de Nemours: Colonies, Slavery and Economic GrowthV. LE RÊVE AMERICAIN DE DU PONT | DU PONT’S AMERICAN DREAM Gabriel SABBAGH | Du Pont de Nemours, coauteur des Lettres d’Abraham Mansword (1771-1772) et critique (1773-1789) de De Lolme: le modèle politique anglais confronté avec une Amérique rêvée Aya TANAKA | Pontiana: Du Pont de Nemours's Physiocratic Dream in America Manuela ALBERTONE | Des finances et des banques américaines: autour des rapports entre Du Pont de Nemours et Thomas JeffersonAnthony MERGEY & Arnault SKORNICKI | Du Pont de Nemours, between Physiocratic Loyalty and Political Versatility

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