Michel Chevalier (; 13 January 1806 – 18 November 1879) was a French engineer,

statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...

, economist and

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Biography

Born in

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

Haute-Vienne Haute-Vienne (; oc, Nauta Vinhana, ; English: Upper Vienne) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve departments that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitai ...

, Chevalier studied at the ''

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

'', obtaining an engineering degree at the Paris ''

École des mines École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scal ...

'' in 1829. In 1830, after the

July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (french: révolution de Juillet), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after the first in 1789. It led to the overthrow of King ...

, he became a

Saint-Simonian Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through a ...

, and edited their paper ''

Le Globe ''Le Globe'' was a French newspaper, published in Paris by the Bureau du Globe between 1824 and 1832, and created with the goal of publishing Romantic creations. It was established by Pierre Leroux and the printer Alexandre Lachevardière. Afte ...

''. The paper was banned in 1832, when the "Simonian

sect A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that b ...

" was found to be prejudicial to the social order, and Chevalier, as its editor, was sentenced to six months imprisonment. After his release,

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Adolphe Thiers sent him in 1834 on a mission to the United States and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, to observe the state of industrial and financial affairs in the Americas. In the United States, Chevalier visited different parts of the country studying American society, its manners and political, social, and economic institutions. He made some keen observations along the way that were published in France by the

Journal des débats The ''Journal des débats'' ( French for: Journal of Debates) was a French newspaper, published between 1789 and 1944 that changed title several times. Created shortly after the first meeting of the Estates-General of 1789, it was, after the ou ...

producing at the time "an immense effect". In Mexico he exchanged ideas with the mineralogist and politician

Andrés Manuel del Río Andrés Manuel del Río y Fernández (10 November 1764 – 23 March 1849) was a Spanish– Mexican scientist, naturalist and engineer who discovered compounds of ''vanadium'' in 1801. He proposed that the element be given the name ''panchromium' ...

. It was during this trip that he also developed the idea that the

Spanish-speaking Hispanophone and Hispanic refers to anything relating to the Spanish language (the Hispanosphere). In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The Hispanic culture is th ...

and

Portuguese-speaking Lusophones ( pt, Lusófonos) are peoples that speak Portuguese as a native or as common second language and nations where Portuguese features prominently in society. Comprising an estimated 270 million people spread across 10 sovereign countries ...

parts of the Americas shared a cultural or

racial A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

affinity with all the

European peoples Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...

with a Romance culture. Chevalier postulated that this part of the Americas were inhabited by people of a "Latin race," which could be a natural ally of "Latin Europe" in its struggle with "Teutonic Europe," "Anglo-Saxon America" and "Slavic Europe." The idea was later taken up by French and Latin American intellectuals and political leaders of the mid and late nineteenth century, who no longer looked to Spain or Portugal as cultural models, but rather to France, and who coined the term "Latin America". In the end, this was just an excuse for France to invade Mexico, which Chevalier supported. In 1837, he wrote a well received work, ''Des intérèts matériels en France'', after which his career took off. At age 35, he was appointed professor of

political economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...

at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

. In 1839, letters that he sent to France during his mission to North America were translated and edited by

Thomas Gamaliel Bradford Thomas Gamaliel Bradford (1802-1887) was an American cartographer. Bradford was born in 1802 in Boston, Massachusetts. He worked for the ''America Encyclopedia'', . He revised and republished ''Atlas Designed to Illustrate the Abridgement of ...

and published in the United States as, ''Society, manners and politics in the United States; being a series of letters on North America''. Orestes Brownson reviewed the book and wrote that, "The work itself is highly important and interesting, and is well worth the perusal and even the study of every American citizen." He was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1852. Chevalier was an early member of the

Société d'économie politique The Société d’Economie Politique () is a French learned society concerned with political economy. It was founded in 1842 to provide a forum for discussion of free trade, a subject of violent debate at the time, and has continued to organize dis ...

organized in 1842 by

Pellegrino Rossi Pellegrino Luigi Odoardo Rossi (13 July 1787 – 15 November 1848) was an Italian economist, politician and jurist. He was an important figure of the July Monarchy in France, and the minister of justice in the government of the Papal States, unde ...

. He was elected a '' député'' for the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of

Aveyron Aveyron (; oc, Avairon; ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyronnais'' (masculine) or ''Aveyronnaises'' (feminine) in French. The inhabitants ...

in 1845, an appointment of

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

followed in 1860. In 1859, he was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

. Together with

Richard Cobden Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. As a young ...

and

John Bright John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies. A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn Laws ...

he prepared the

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

agreement of 1860 between the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and France, which is still called the '' Cobden-Chevalier Treaty''. He died in

Lodève Lodève (; oc, Lodeva ) is a commune in the département of Hérault, in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. The derivation of the city's name is from Gaulish ''Luteva'', composed of lut-, swamp, ...

Works

*''Des intérèts matériels en France'', 1837 *
Society, manners and politics in the United States; being a series of letters on North America
', 1839 *''Histoire et description des voies de communication aux États-Unis'', 1840–42, 2 volumes *''Essais de politique industrielle'', 1843 *''Cours d'économie politique'', 1842-44 u. 1850, 3 volumes *''L'isthme de Panama, suivi d'un aperçu sur l'isthme de Suez'', 1844 *''Les Brevets d'invention examinés dans leurs rapports avec le principe de la liberté du travail et avec le principe de l'égalité des citoyens'', 1878

References

External links

*
Michael Chevalier: Society Manners and Politics in the United States
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chevalier, Michel École Polytechnique alumni Mines ParisTech alumni Corps des mines 1806 births 1879 deaths People from Limoges French engineers French newspaper editors French political writers French people in rail transport Saint-Simonists French Senators of the Second Empire French classical liberals Collège de France faculty Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 19th-century French journalists French male journalists Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur 19th-century male writers

Biography

Works

See also

References

Further reading

External links