#1791

[artschoolglasses]

Habits de costume pour l'exécution des ballets de Mr. Noverre dessinés par Mr. Boquet, 1791

[todaysdocument]

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to George Washington

Record Group 59: General Records of the Department of StateSeries: Letters ReceivedFile Unit: April THRU July 1791  

Bennington June 5. 1791.

Sir

In my last letter from Philadelphia, I mentioned that Mr Madison & myself were about to take a trip up the North river as far as

circumstances should permit. The levelness of the roads led us quite

on to Lake George, where taking boat we went through that, and about

25 miles into Lake Champlain. returning then to Saratoga, we concluded to cross over thro' Vermont to Connecticut river and go down

that instead of the North river which we had already seen, and we

are so far on that rout. in the course of our journey we have had opportunities of visiting Stillwater, Saratoga, Forts Wm. Henry & George

Ticonderoga, Crown point, & the scene of Genl. Starke's victory.

I have availed myself of such opportunities as occurred to enquire into the grounds of the report that something disagreeable had

taken place in the vicinities of the British ports. it seems to have been

the following incident. they had held a small port at a blockhouse on

the North Hero, an island on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain, & something

further South than their principal port at the Point au fer. the Maria,

hitherto stationed at the latter, for Custom house purposes, was sent to

the Block-house, & there exercised her usual visits on boats passing to

& from Canada. this being an exercise of power further within our

jurisdiction became the subject of notice & clamour with our citizens

in that quarter. the vessel has been since recalled to the Point au fer,

& being unfit for service, a new one is to be built to perform her functions.

this she has usually done at the Point au fer with a good deal of rigour,

bringing all vessels to at that place, & sometimes under such circumstances

of wind & weather as to have occasioned the loss of two vessels & cargoes.

The President of the U.S. these these circumstances produce strong sensations in that quarter, & not

friendly to the character of our government. the establishment of a customhouse at Albany, nearly opposite to Point au fer, has given the British considerable alarm. a groundless story of 200 Americans seen in arms near

Point au fer, has been the cause, or the pretext, of their reinforcing that place

a few days ago with a company of men from St. John's. it is said here they

have called in their guard from the Block-house, but the information

is not direct enough to command entire belief.

On enquiring into the dispositions in Canada on the subject of the

projected form of government there, we learn, that they are divided into

two parties; the English who desire something like an English constitution

but so modelled as to oblige the French to chuse a certain proportion of English representatives, & the French who with a continuance of the French

laws, moderated by some engraftments from the English code. The

judge of their common pleas heads the former party, & Smith the

chief justice secretly guides the latter.

We encounter the Green mountains tomorrow, with cavalry in

part disabled, so as to render our progress a little incertain. I presume however I shall be in Philadelphia in a fortnight. I have

the honour to be with sentiments of the most perfect respect

& attachment, Sir,

Your most obedient

& most humble servant

Th. Jefferson 

[lepetitdragonvert]

Orpheus tries to hold on to Eurydice

.c. 1791

Artist : François Gérard (1770-1837)

[thefairyfellermasterstroke]

I feel like this quote, taken from a letter sent to Antonie Buissart in 1791 by Robespierre, perfectly summarize the life of the latter:

"I feel only trepidation at the arduous labours to which this important position* will condemn me, at a time when I needed rest after such lengthy turmoil... But I am called to a turbulent destiny. I must follow it, until I have made the last sacrifice I can offer to my homeland."

*On June 11th, 1791, Robespierre was elected as public prosecutor in the Criminal Court of the department of Paris (without his knowledge)

[treasuresfromthearchives]

Hugh Mercer, Jr. (Study for "The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, Janury 3, 1777")

John Trumbull American

1791

"Trumbull is considered the most learned artist and skilled draftsman of his generation in America. Between 1789 and 1791 he traveled the eastern seaboard of the United States drawing portrait studies of military heroes to ensure the accuracy of the likenesses he would render in his famed Revolutionary War paintings. His portrait drawing representing Brigadier General Hugh Mercer is one of thirteen extant studies for the painting “The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777” (Yale University Art Gallery). Because his subject was deceased, Trumbull used for his model Mercer’s son Hugh Jr.; he twice sketched the young man in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in April 1791."

[doyoulikethischaracterdesign]

Morte from Planescape Torment

"Morte is a talking skull. His sole weapon seems to be his mouth, whether by taunting or biting. He seems to be along for the ride, whether you want him around or not."

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Voting ended onMay 16

[whencyclopedia]

The Colony and the Company: Haiti after the Mississippi Bubble

"The Colony and the Company" by Ghachem is an excellently written historical exploration of an often-overlooked contributing factor of the Haitian Revolution. The author positions metropolitan finance and company collapse as complementary to, rather than a replacement for, revolutionary interpretations by looking closely at the connection of France’s Mississippi Bubble and the economic landscape in Saint Domingue, thus expanding the reader's understanding of the events leading up to 1791.

The Colony and the Company by Malick W. Ghachem is an articulately written and intellectually ambitious work that offers a compelling historical lens through which readers can examine the early foundations of the Caribbean’s most influential French colonies, St. Domingue (now known as Haiti). Rather than beginning with the Haitian Revolution or the late 18th century, Ghachem re-centres Saint-Domingue’s transformation into a violent sugar-plantation society in the early 18th century, connecting that transformation to France’s Mississippi Bubble and the collapse of company monopolies in the Atlantic world. In doing so, the book shifts both the chronology and the explanatory framework commonly used in Haitian historiography.

The primary purpose of the book is to present new research and reinterpretation. Ghachem argues that the fiscal and commercial crisis surrounding the Mississippi Bubble (c. 1719–1720) fundamentally reshaped imperial priorities and implanted enduring structures of debt, monopoly, coercion, and plantation violence in Saint-Domingue well before the Haitian Revolution of 1791. This intervention is significant because it challenges narratives that implicitly treat the revolution as the origin of Haiti’s long-term economic and political difficulties. Instead, Ghachem demonstrates that these problems were deeply embedded in colonial governance decades earlier, rooted in metropolitan financial experimentation and failure.

Structurally, the book is divided into six chapters and a conclusion. The chapters trace the evolution of company rule, metropolitan fiscal policy, and the transition to planter dominance following the collapse of monopoly trading companies. Ghachem pays close attention to the social formations that emerged within this framework, including Jesuit missionaries, free people of colour, maroons, enslaved labourers, and the rising planter oligarchy. His approach is firmly grounded in legal, economic, and social history. Through close readings of notarial records, company correspondence, legal codes, and commercial ledgers, he reconstructs how abstract financial crises in France translated into concrete institutional restructuring and intensified violence on the ground in Saint-Domingue. The emphasis on legal history is particularly valuable, as it reveals how law operated not merely as a reflection of power, but as an active instrument in reorganising labour, property, and authority in St. Domingue.

The book’s greatest strength is making the connection between Saint-Domingue and the Mississippi Bubble. By linking colonial development to speculative finance and state debt, Ghachem demonstrates that Caribbean plantation societies were not peripheral to European economic history but central to it, a bold and striking reality which many attempt to trivialise. This insight has broader implications for how historians understand capitalism, empire, and colonial extraction.

In comparison to other major works in the field, Ghachem’s contribution is both complementary and corrective. Laurent Dubois’s Avengers of the New World (2005) foregrounds revolutionary actors and political culture, while C. L. R. James’s The Black Jacobins (1938) famously emphasises revolutionary agency and global ideological currents. By foregrounding the Mississippi Bubble, he adds a metropolitan financial dimension that reframes plantation violence and growth as structurally rooted, not incidental.

Ghachem, a Professor of History at MIT, has both training in History (PhD) and Law (JD), enabling him to provide us with a nuanced analysis of colonial institutions, linking legal frameworks, imperial policy, and social consequences while extending his earlier work on Haiti with a deeper archival and chronological reach.

The book is clearly aimed at scholars and advanced students of Caribbean-Atlantic, colonial, and economic history, though Ghachem’s prose is straightforward enough that a well-informed general reader can follow his argument. Some readers may note that detailed accounts of cultural microhistory, everyday life stories, or extended treatment of African retention are omitted from this work. Though they might have provided further grounding to this powerful work, the absence of such matters when focusing on economic history is consistent with its analytical goals.

Overall, The Colony and the Company is a must-read for anyone interested in the multicausal nature of revolutions, the deep roots of colonial violence, and the legal-economic foundations of Atlantic enslavement. The book's persuasive thesis, methodological rigour, and originality make it a valuable and lasting contribution to the field.

Read More

⇒ The Colony and the Company: Haiti after the Mississippi Bubble

[weirdary]

First European Constitution

And no! It was not French!

It was written up May 3rd, 1791 by Lithuania and Poland (The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) during the work of Senate of 1788-1792. Sadly it was official for only a few years, as in 1795 Lithuania and Poland were absorbed by Russian, Prussian and Austrian empires.

“The Law on Governance” – Title page of the printed edition of the Constitution of May 3, 1791. Warsaw, 1791 | Michael Gröll Printing House National Library of Poland. SD XVIII.1.1573 and SD XVIII.1.505

The Adoption of the Constitution on May 3, 1791, in the Senate Hall of the Royal Palace in Warsaw By Jean-Pierre Norblin de la Gourdene, c. 1791 National Library of Poland. R.4312/WAF.9

Main points of the Constitution:

1. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth became a constitutional monarchy.

2. The old procedure for electing kings was abolished (yes, the kings were elected before - selected from various noble candidates). The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was declared a hereditary monarchy.

3. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth remained a noble state, but the Constitution sought to establish principles of class harmony and opened the door to further reforms of the state system.

4. The Catholic Church was recognized as the dominant religion, while religious tolerance was acknowledged.

5. A member of parliament elected to the Senate was granted the status of a representative of the entire nation.

6. The liberum veto—the nobility’s right to protest against Senate's resolutions and block their work—was abolished.

7. Social reforms: the Constitution recognized the citizens of royal cities as free people; they were granted the right to hold administrative and judicial offices and to attain military ranks. The framers of the Constitution regarded the alliance between the nobility and the townspeople as the foundation of the reformed system.

8. State protection was guaranteed to peasants in their relations with landowners.