History in the Making – Americans(?) in Paris: Thomas Paine, Gouverneur Morris, and the Adventures of Nationalized Universalism (Dr. Noah Shusterman, Associate Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong)

This talk will examine Thomas Paine’s imprisonment during the French Revolution, and the refusal of the United States Ambassador to France, Gouverneur Morris, to intervene on his behalf. The episode provides a chance to examine the French Revolution – and the Atlantic Revolutions more generally – from both an abstract perspective and a very personal one. Paine’s imprisonment symbolized the French Revolution’s transition away from a universal movement based on abstract Enlightenment principles and the Rights of Man and, as such, points to the limits of the Atlantic Revolutions more broadly. Morris, a man of aristocratic tendencies, fared better in Revolutionary Paris than the more democratic Paine. And yet examining Morris’ other actions on behalf of US citizens shows that the personal animosities between the two men remains relevant to understanding Paine’s time in prison. For all of its symbolic importance, the episode is also important as a story of early experiments in statesmanship by two young republics.

Noah Shusterman is an historian of Early Modern Europe and the Atlantic World, with a focus on the eighteenth century and the American and French Revolutions. He is the author of three books, including most recently Armed Citizens: The Road from Ancient Rome to the Second Amendment.

Register here: https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?guest=Y&ueid=102516