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Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and Madame de Stael letters

Creation: 1789 July 15 Creation: undated
 Collection
Accession: 0089

Abstract

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (1766-1817), known as Madame de Staël, was a writer, philosopher, and politically engaged woman who survived the French Revolution and was exiled multiple times by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). This collection contains two letters, one by du Pont de Nemours and one by de Staël. His letter was written the night the Bastille was stormed. Her undated letter concerns French relations with Sweden.

Dates

  • Creation: 1789 July 15
  • Creation: undated

Creator

Extent

2 item(s)

Biographical Note

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. He was an advocate for a national educational system and promoted Franco-American trade relations.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours was born in Paris on December 14, 1739. He was apprenticed as a watchmaker, but during the early 1760s, he began to study and write on economic matters. In 1767, du Pont de Nemours coined the term "physiocracy," which means the rule of nature, to describe the complex doctrine of French economist François Quesnay (1694-1774), which is now cognized as the first modern school of economics.

In July 1774, the family departed for Poland, where du Pont de Nemours was to serve the Polish monarch in various capacities, including that of honorary councilor. He was shortly recalled to France, however, and commissioned as Inspecteur Général du Commerce, a position he held until its abolition in 1788. During the late 1770s, he was an economic advisor to Jacques Necker (1732-1804), a Genevan banker who served as finance minister for King Louis XVI (1754-1793) from 1789 to 1790 but held a number of other posts in regards to finances for the royal treasury between 1777 and 1789.

In the early 1780s, du Pont de Nemours was involved in the negotiations that led to the Anglo-French Commercial Treaty of 1786. The treaty reduced tariffs on goods between France and Britain. In 1786, he was appointed Counseiller d'Etat by King Louis XVI; in this position, he acted as a government official of administrative law. The following year he served as secretary of the first Assemblée des Notables, convened at Versailles to consult on matters of state.

At the onset of the French Revolution, du Pont de Nemours served as a member of the Assemblée Nationale Constituante (1789-1791). The purpose of the assembly was to discuss a new constitution and taxation system. He allied himself with the moderate Girondist faction. Girondists were initially part of the Jacobin movement. The Jacobin Club were anti-royalists who supported the abolition of the monarchy, the creation of parliament, the introduction of a constitution, the separation of powers, and the establishment of a republic. The Girondins supported the end of the monarchy; however, they were not for the revolution, and most opposed the execution of the King, who was arrested in August 1792 and put to death on January 21, 1793.

After the leader of the Jacobin party, Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794), took power, Girondin deputies and members of other opposing movements were arrested, put on trial, and many were executed. This time period is known as the Reign of Terror. Du Pont de Nemours was arrested in July 1794, but he escaped the guillotine upon Robespierre's fall at the end of the month.

In 1795, he was chosen as a member of the Counseil des Anciens (Council of Elders), which was the upper house of the French legislature. Following the coup d'état of September 4, 1795, he was again arrested and held for one night.

The du Ponts began to explore the possibility of emigration to the United States. On January 3, 1800, accompanied by his sons, Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827) and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), he arrived in America. Du Pont de Nemours and his sons established the commission house of Du Pont de Nemours, Père et Fils & Cie. in New York.

Du Pont de Nemours and his wife, Françoise Robin de Poivre (1748-1841), returned to France in 1802, where he held various government posts under Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). In 1814, he became a member of the provisional government that deposed Napoleon and exiled him to Elba. Upon Napoleon's return, du Pont de Nemours again fled to America, where he died at the home of his son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, in Delaware on August 7, 1817.

Biographical Note

Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (1766-1817), known as Madame de Staël, was a writer, philosopher, and politically engaged woman who survived the French Revolution and was exiled multiple times by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). She was the only daughter of notable writer Suzanne Curchod Necker (1737-1794) and Jacques Necker (1732-1804), a banker, politician, and Minister of Finance for France's King Louis XVI before the Revolution.

Born in France, Germaine Necker married the Swedish ambassador to France, Baron Eric de Staël-Holstein (1749-1802); it was a marriage of convenience which ended in a formal separation in 1797. She had three children.

Staël-Holstein went to Coppet, Switzerland, the family residence near Geneva, in 1793, where she established a meeting place for some of western Europe's leading intellectuals. She returned to France a year later and published several political and literary essays. Because Napolean considered her a threat, he banished Madame de Staël a distance of forty miles from Paris in 1803, and thereafter she made Coppet her headquarters. She traveled extensively throughout Europe and continued to write. She returned to France in 1816 and died a year later in Paris.

Scope and Contents

Two letters, one written by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and one written by Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (1766-1817), commonly known as Madame de Staël. Du Pont de Nemours' letter reports the royal order of King Louis XVI (1754-1793) for the withdrawal of troops from Paris after the fall of the Bastille. This order was sent from the Hotel de Ville shortly after the Bastille was stormed. The undated letter by Madame de Staël concerns French relations with Sweden.

Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.

Language of Materials

French

Related Names

Subject

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title:
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and Madame de Stael letters
Author:
John Beverly Riggs
Date:
1970
Description rules:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description:
English
Script of description:
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2021: Ashley Williams

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository

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