Who the Founding fathers confronted
& what happened before Queen Victoria
Want to know if Washington had wooden teeth?Ask the experts
at the Museum of dentistry, where I found this picture
I always had a hard time relating the history of England to the history of the rest of us. So I thought this page would clarify the mind of the few of you who are like me, easily confused.
The English king George III (reigned 1760-1820) was one of the most important, if not very glorious, monarch of his time; he had to deal with: The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) which included many countries and ended the dominance of France as a colonial power. The war strained the British budget and led to the American revolutionary war (1775-1783). Furthermore, France was a dangerous neighbor: the French Revolution (1789) was shortly followed by the Napoleon crisis (First Consul then Emperor 1799-1815). George III remains a mysterious, controversial figure. What I like about him is that he liked science and books. He suffered when he was 50 years old to his death of boots of madness triggered by the combination of a disease called porphyria and the administration of large doses of arsenic. This is described in a shocking movie:The Madness of King George - well acted, worth seeing and somewhat disturbing (I cannot understand that some people find it funny).
The flavor of the French revolution Why did the French have a revolution? Because a new class of people (merchants, industrialists) came to be important and they had no representation, no political power. You can see this period as the era of the creation of the middle class. Who were the French ppundits who influenced the early American revolutionaries ? I would pick up Montesquieu, who said that anybody who has power is driven to abuse it - this is for me the main reason why we should always have a democracy - and he advocated the separation of church and state. The Spirit of the Laws*** is easy read but hard thinking and a lot of questions discussed are still unsolved. Another basic text about democracy that you should read has been written one century later: On Liberty by John Stuart Mill (1859).
More fun, but you have to read between the lines, is Beaumarchais The Figaro Trilogy*** Figaro the valet is smarter than his noble boss: we do not see this as seditious now, but at the time, the king felt threatened enough to ban the Marriage of Figaro. It is a pleasurable read and a good play. Delight yourself with Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro (1976). I wish I could suggest a good biography of Beaumarchais, but there are so many to choose from, I am stuck. Beaumarchais was a watchmaker, a spy, an entrepreneur; he was an arm dealer selling weapons to Americans and a lot more, not always good, a very interesting character. And there is Voltaire, always brilliant and unexpected (you might compare his mind to that of George Bernard Shaw). I think that Voltaire did two great things: he promoted Newton's ideas in France and he wanted people to think by themselves. The best of him is in his letters Voltaire In His Letters ***It is usually very funny: you must read between the lines, even the most classic and polite end of a letter can be insulting under his pen! Voltaire's classic writings are grouped in The Portable Voltaire. On the French revolution, a good short book: The French Revolution, 1789-1799 by Peter McPhee. If you want to really understand the flaws of the society before the Revolution, nothing compares to the romantic vision of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.
I am not an admirer of Napoleon (if you are the kind that forgives millions of deaths provided the general is a good one, think about Napoleon as somebody who signed a math theorem belonging to somebody else). The monster also re-established slavery! So I suggest you read Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince Talleyrand by David Lawday
The Black Tower by Louis Bayard is an entertaining novel introducing you to Vidocq, a real-life crook turned chief of police under Napoleon (find Vidocq here or in his Memoirs).
Novels about that period are not easy to find; check Bruce Alexander novels.
On the Founding Fathers There should be a minimum of three books about the birth of the US in any decent American family. Which ones? Of course it depends on your interest. I think that The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams*** is mandatory. Here are a few great and readable books:
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis (I do not agree with his point of view, but it is still a good book).
Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer
1776*** by David McCullough
John Adams by David McCullough
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life*** by Walter Isaacson.
Do not miss the interesting HBO Miniseries John Adams and The Crossing
The son of the enigmatic George III acted as Regent (1811-1820). This is the period called Regency by English-speaking people (for the French, the term Regency refers to the regency of Philippe d'Orleans during the youth of Louis XV just one century earlier(1715-1723). King George IV was not very interested in politics, he had and exorbitant lifestyle in a period of misery brought on the nation by the Napoleonic wars, and he was according to many biographers, lazy and dissolute. In 1829, George IV was forced by his government to agree to Catholic Emancipation, one more step toward real democracy. A period movie to see is Beau Brummell with Stewart Granger and Elizabeth Taylor. I think it only comes in VHS. Brummell was leading the fashion of his time, he was covered with debts and died in France, after losing the protection of the king (see also Beau Brummell: This Charming Man). George IV had no surviving legit child, so he was succeeded by his brother.
William IV (reigned 1830-1837) brother of George IV became king when he was 64 years old. William is described younger, as the duke of Clarence in Blue at the Mizzen the last novel of Patrick O'Brian in the Aubrey-Maturin series (see this page and roll down to Napoleonic wars). You can enjoy a movie inspired by the same author Master and Commander. When the king died, he had no legit surviving child, though he had ten children by his mistress Mrs Jordan. If you are interested in the mistresses of kings, here is a book on the lady Mrs. Jordan's Profession: The Actress and the Prince by Claire Tomalin. I did not read it, I know it is there.
The king was succeeded by his niece, Queen Victoria who reigned for the rest of that century.
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