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'Filippo Antonio Pasquale di Paoli' AKA ''Pascal Paoli'' (April 6, 1725 – February 5, 1807), was a Corsican patriot and leader, the leader of the first democratic republic of the modern age.

Contents

Biography

Corsican republic

After the republic

Paoli commemmorated in the USA

See also

Further reading

References

External links

References

Biography

Paoli was born at Stretta in the parish of Rostino, the son of Giacinto Paoli, who had led the Corsican rebels against Genovese tyranny. Pasquale followed his father into exile in 1739, serving with distinction in the Neapolitan army; on his return to Corsica on April 29, 1755 he became the ''General of the Corsican Nation'', the commander-in-chief of the Corsican independence forces.

Corsican republic

In November 1755 Corsican independence was proclaimed and the Corsican Constitution was created - this was the first constitution written under Enlightenment principles. The republic created an administration, justice system, and founded an army. After a series of successful actions Paoli drove the Genovese from the whole island except for a few coastal towns. He then set to work to reorganize the government, introducing many reforms. He founded a university at Corte. He created a short-lived "Order of Saint-Devote" in 1757 in honor of the patron saint of the island, Saint Devota.[1]
Paoli's ideas of independence, democracy and liberty gained support from such philosophers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Raynal, Mably ^[1]. The publication in 1766 of ''An Account of Corsica'' by James Boswell made Paoli famous all over Europe. In 1767 Corsica took the island of Capraia from the Genoese, who, one year later, despairing of ever being able to subjugate Corsica again, with the Treaty of Versailles sold their rights over it to France. The French invaded Corsica the same year, and for one year Paoli's forces fought desperately for their new republic against the new invaders. However, in 1769 he was defeated in Ponte Nuovo by vastly superior forces under the Comte de Vaux, and obliged to take refuge in England.

After the republic

After the French revolution Paoli became something of an idol of liberty and democracy. In 1789 he was invited to Paris by the National Constituent Assembly and was celebrated as a hero in front of the assembly. He was afterwards sent back to Corsica having been given the rank of lieutenant-general.
Eventually however Paoli became disgusted with the excesses of the French Revolution, and having been accused of treason by the French National Convention, he summoned a ''consulta'' (assembly) at Corte in 1793, with himself as president and formally seceded from France. He then offered the sovereignty of the island to the British government, but finding no support in that quarter, he was forced to go into exile once more, and Corsica became a French ''département''. He retired to London in 1796, when he obtained a pension.

Paoli commemmorated in the USA

The American Sons of Liberty were inspired by Paoli and his struggle against despotism.
In 1768, the editor of the New York Journal described Paoli as "''the greatest man on earth''".
In the American Revolutionary War General Anthony Wayne led his soldiers into battle with the cry "''Remember Paoli!''".
Many place names in the USA are named after him. These include:

★ Paoli, Pennsylvania, which was named after "General Paoli's Tavern" a meeting-point of the Sons of Liberty and homage to the "General of the Corsicans".

★ Paoli, Colorado

★ Paoli, Indiana

★ Paoli, Oklahoma

★ Paoli, Wisconsin

See also

★ Corsican Constitution

Further reading

★ James Boswell's ''Account of Corsica and Memoirs of P Paoli'' (1768)

★ N Tommaseo, "Lettere di Pasquale de Paoli" (in ''Archivio storico italiano'', 1st series, vol. xi.), and ''Della Corsica'', etc. (ibid., ''nuova serie'', vol. xi., parte ii.);

★ Pompei, ''De L'état de la Corse'' (Paris, 1821); Giovanni Livi, ''Lettere inedite di Pasquale Paoli'' (in ''Arch. stor. ital.'', 5th series, vols. v. and vi.);

★ Bartoli, ''Historia di Pascal Paoli'' (Bastia, 1891); Lencisa, ''P. Paoli e la guerra d'indipendenza della Corsica'' (Milano, 1890).

★ John Ralston Saul, Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West.

References

External links

★ Association Pascal Paoli

★ Pasquale Paoli the Father of the Corsican Nation

★ Pasquale Paoli biography

★ The Figures of History

★ Corsican history:

★
★ CONSTITUTIONAL PROJECT FOR CORSICA, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Drafted 1765

★
★ CORSICA by James Brannan

★
★ About Corsica

★
★ Corsica – a national question?

References

1. http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0521845807&id=iv41_FKFfUQC&pg=PA259&lpg=PA259&dq=partitions+of+Poland+absolute+monarchies&vq=Pasquale+Paoli&sig=_gaNILwINF5DvjzaXBXDld8Veek Power and the Nation in European History