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Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours letters

Creation: 1796 August 3 Creation: 1799 June 21
 Collection
Accession: 1595

Abstract

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. This collection consists of two handwritten letters in French from du Pont de Nemours. The first letter is to an uknown recipient referred to as "mon cher Prédecesseur," and the second letter is to Pierre-Charles-Louis Baudin (1748-1799), politician and French revolutionary, who was opposed to the execution of King Louis XVI (1754-1793).

Dates

  • Creation: 1796 August 3
  • Creation: 1799 June 21

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 recognized 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.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of two handwritten letters in French from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours. The first letter is to an uknown recipient referred to as "mon cher Prédecesseur," and the second letter is to Pierre-Charles-Louis Baudin (1748-1799), politician and French revolutionary, who was opposed to the execution of King Louis XVI (1754-1793).

In the first letter, dated August 3, 1796, du Pont de Nemours tells the addressee that he does not need a copy of Philosophie de l'univers since he has created it, and notes that he has added several observations on the connection between love and death, the usefulness of grief, and the rewards for virtue.

In the second letter, dated June 21, 1799, du Pont de Nemours, as president of the Institut nationale (now the Institut de France), writes to Baudin as president of the Conseil des Anciens. He sends a copy of his speech, which has been approved by the Commission des poids et mésures and criticized yesterday by his classe at the Institut. He intends to send the speech to Conseil des Anciens member Charles Pierre Claret, Comte de Fleurieu (1738-1810) and to the Conseil des Cinq-cents (the Council of Five Hundred, the lower house of the legislature).

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Language of Materials

French

Related Names

Subject

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title:
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours letters
Description rules:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description:
English
Script of description:
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2020: Laurie Sather

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository

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