A Tale of Three Cities

We are here considering London and Paris during what Charles Dickens called best of times and the worst of times: the first half of the 1790s, when the word revolution was itself transformed from its original metaphoric meaning of peaceful and inevitable change, to a synonym in politics for cataclysmic upheaval.* But we are representatives of Clio's American bureau; it is therefore proper to add Philadelphia city of Quaker benevolence, of the first antislavery societies, of the American Philosophical Society, of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and (by recent Act of Congress) seat of the new government of the United States. The City of Brotherly Love shone forth to idealistic and progressive Europeans as the world's first home of liberty, fraternity, and equality. Each of these cities was, in the 1790s, the center of its national life and aspirations in trade and politics as well as in the exchange of ideas. The object of this paper is to trace the careers of a few interesting Americans through these cities in the earlier years of the French Revolution, with an occasional jump forward or backward in time, and a few excursions to other sites. Along the way we will meet some French and English characters whose lives became entwined with those of our Americans. All of our characters belong to the radical wing of eighteenth century politics and culture, though one of them was mistakenly put down as a conservative in his own time and in most subsequent literature. Before introducing our main characters, we should think for a moment about Benjamin Franklin. This independent-minded son

Economic geography · Economics · Political science · Canadian Identity and History · Historical and Literary Studies · Travel Writing and Literature

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  Karen K List•Critical Studies in Mass…•1985

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