ABSTRACT The American envoy in Paris, Jefferson, sent on 17 June 1789 to Jay, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, an assessment of Necker, then at the apex of his political fortune, provided by an informant whose name was not disclosed by Jefferson. This paper intends to show that the author of this report was the philosopher, mathematician and economist Condorcet – certainly the French friend who had with Jefferson the most intense intellectual intercourse – and sketches a history of the (...) relationship between Condorcet, Necker and Jefferson from which the report arose. While the friendship of Jefferson and Condorcet has been studied extensively, the report on Necker was never investigated in depth. (shrink)

Between 1765 and 1767 Quesnay published Droit naturel and Despotisme de la Chine. I show that these texts are strongly related. I study their various versions and editions, some of which were previously poorly known, and attempt to evaluate their readership. I uncover a lost manuscript and neglected sources of Despotisme de la Chine which help to clarify various points about the text. It is shown that it was finished most probably well before the end of 1766. Its economic contents (...) are briefly described, whether they are similar to other writings of Quesnay or seem to alter his doctrine. It is suggested that Despotisme de la Chine was read by Adam Smith and that he took from it many lines on China found in Wealth of Nations. The paper ends with a proposal of a new edition of Droit naturel and Despotisme de la Chine. (shrink)

This paper is prompted by the publication of a book by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Andrew S. Curran on the contest launched in 1739 by the Bordeaux Academy on the origin of black skin and hair. The most influential work submitted as part of this contest was an essay by Pierre Barrère. This paper has two parts, one devoted to a review of the book, the other to the discovery of a cogent text, which was certainly written by a (...) member of the Lyon Academy, Guillaume Rey. Rey criticized Barrère’s essay and debunked various beliefs about the origin of black skin that were commonly held at the time of its publication. (shrink)