Liberal leader of the Restoration who set the liberty of the moderns against that of the ancients
Born at Lausanne in 1767 to a family of French Huguenot descent, he met Madame de Staël in 1794 and long worked with her. A republican from 1795, he backed 18 Brumaire and entered the Tribunate in 1799, from which Napoleon forced him out in 1802. During the Hundred Days he sided with Napoleon and helped draft the constitutional act of 1815. Elected deputy in 1818, he led the liberal opposition known as the Independents until his death and was a great orator for parliamentary government. He called the individual's freedom from interference by state and society the liberty of the moderns, as against the participatory liberty of the ancients. He also wrote the novel Adolphe. Louis Philippe named him to the Council of State in 1830, and he died that December.
Also known as: Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque
Activities and affiliations
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1795–1830
Scholarship and theory
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1799–1802
Consulate and First Empire state institutionsMember of the Tribunate
Legislature and state representation -
1818–1830
French monarchy state institutionsDeputy, leader of the liberal oppositionMain
Legislature and state representation -
1830
France state institutionsMember of the Council of State
Law and justice
Career Timeline
- 1799–1802Member of the Tribunate
- 1815Helps draft the constitutional act of the Hundred Days
- 1816Novel Adolphe
- 1818–1830Member of the Chamber of Deputies
- 1830Member of the Council of State