Revolutionary Thought in the Work of Fleury Mesplet

FAIN: FT-12488-75

Virgil P. Benoit
University of Vermont and State Agricultural College (Burlington, VT 05405-0160)

A critical analysis of the works of the French writer and printer, Fleury Mesplet. Study will shed light on the nature of the understanding of American Revolutionary thought by the Frenchman whom the American Congress made responsible for the diffusion of anti-loyalist ideas and sentiment among the French-speaking population of North America. Research will focus on the Gazette du Commerce et Litteraire pour la Ville & District de Montreal this first literary journal of Montreal which became the vehicle for the spread of American Revolutionary thought, a belief which ultimately led to its. suppression of publication by the British loyalists. Study will interpret the literary forms of the works which spread American Revolutionary ideals among the French.