Constant

Biography

Benjamin Constant, actually Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (* 25 October 1767 in Lausanne; † 8 December 1830 in Paris) was a French-speaking writer, liberal politician and state theorist of Swiss origin.

He investigated the relationship between state power and the individual, which had become problematic in the French Revolution. In 1802 he was cold-set by Napoleon, but in 1815 he invited him to write an amendment to the Constitution of France. Constant's ideas influenced the November Uprising, the Greek Revolution, the Liberal Revolution in Portugal and the Belgian Revolution.