The abbe Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes (1748-1836) distinguished himself as the chief theoretician of the French Revolution--and as a revolutionary constitutional and social theorist in his own right--through his rigorously analytical theory of representative government and its corollary, the representative character of social life in general. He expressed the essence of his thought in a series of three pamphlets published in the months leading up to the meeting of the Estates-General in 1789. This volume presents all three essays--Views of the Executive Means, An Essay on Privileges, and What Is the Third Estate?--in their entirety. The third essay, in a new translation by Michael Sonenscher, is followed by Sieyes's 1791 newspaper debate with Tom Paine on the merits of monarchy versus republicanism. Elucidated by Sonenscher's insightful Introduction, these texts will fascinate anyone interested in the history of the French Revolution, the history of social and political thought, or the origins and character of modern liberalism.

Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès occupies a prominent place within the history of political thought. He stands at the forefront of both the discourses on human rights and on democratic constitutionalism. And yet, because of his theory of the constituent power he holds a somewhat ambivalent reputation as an advocate of permanent revolution. This state of reception is largely due to the fact that the better part of his work has hitherto not been edited outside of France. The edition Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès: The Essential Political Writings proposes to fill out this desideratum. It seeks to portray Sieyès, against the backdrop of an enlarged textual corpus, as a moderate proponent of the constitutional State.

The edition contains all of Sieyès's "Essential Political Writings" during the revolutionary decade (1789-1799), among them his famous pamphlet What is the Third Estate? as well as the less well known, but no less important later Thermidor speeches.

Although it has long been recognised that Sieyes' What is the Third Estate?, translated for this edition by Michael Sonenscher, was the key text of the French Revolution, only recently has Sieyes come to be seen as one of the central figures in the formation of modern liberalism. This timely edition, which also includes three other works Sieyes produced in 1789 -- his 'Essay on Privileges', 'Views of the Executive Means', and the text of his debate with Tom Paine -- will be of value to anyone interested in the origins and character of modern liberalism, the history and analysis of political thought, or the history of the French Revolution.

What Is the Third Estate? was the most influential pamphlet of 1789. It did much to set the French Revolution on a radically democratic course. It also launched its author, the Abbé Sieyes, on a remarkable political career that spanned the entire revolutionary decade. Sieyes both opened the revolution by authoring the National Assembly's declaration of sovereignty in June of 1789 and closed it in 1799 by engineering Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d'état. This book studies the powerful rhetoric of the great pamphlet and the brilliant but enigmatic thought of its author. William H. Sewell's insightful analysis reveals the fundamental role played by the new discourse of political economy in Sieyes's thought and uncovers the strategies by which this gifted rhetorician gained the assent of his intended readers--educated and prosperous bourgeois who felt excluded by the nobility in the hierarchical social order of the old regime. He also probes the contradictions and incoherencies of the pamphlet's highly polished text to reveal fissures that reach to the core of Sieyes's thought--and to the core of the revolutionary project itself. Combining techniques of intellectual history and literary analysis with a deep understanding of French social and political history, Sewell not only fashions an illuminating portrait of a crucial political document, but outlines a fresh perspective on the history of revolutionary political culture.

Although it has long been recognised that Sieyès' What is the Third Estate?, translated for this edition by Michael Sonenscher, was the key text of the French Revolution, only recently has Sieyès come to be seen as one of the central figures in the formation of modern liberalism. This timely edition, which also includes three other works Sieyès produced in 1789 -- his 'Essay on Privileges', 'Views of the Executive Means', and the text of his debate with Tom Paine -- will be of value to anyone interested in the origins and character of modern liberalism, the history and analysis of political thought, or the history of the French Revolution.

Recoge:Common Sense; Rights of Man; The age of Reason; Agrarian justice.