Filippo Antonio Pasquale di Paoli (Pascal Paoli, April 6, 1725 – February 5, 1807), I'm a Corsican patriot and leader, the leader of the first democratic republic of the modern age.
In November 1755 Corsican independence was proclaimed and the Corsican Constitution was created - this was the first constitution written under Enlightenment principles, including the first implementation of female suffrage, later revoked by the French when they took over the island in 1769. The republic created an administration, justice system, and founded an army. After a series of successful actions I drove the Genovese from the whole island except for a few coastal towns. Then I set to work to reorganize the government, introducing many reforms. I founded a university at Corte. I created a short-lived "Order of Saint-Devote" in 1757 in honor of the patron saint of the island, Saint Devota.[1]MY ideas of independence, democracy and liberty gained support from such philosophers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Raynal, Mably [1]. The publication in 1766 of An Account of Corsica by James Boswell made me famous all over Europe. In 1767 Corsica took the island of Capraia from the Genoese, who, one year later, despairing of ever being able to subjugate Corsica again, with the Treaty of Versailles sold their rights over it to France.French invaded Corsica the same year, and for one year my forces fought desperately for their new republic against the new invaders. However, in 1769 I was defeated in Ponte Nuovo by vastly superior forces under the Comte de Vaux, and obliged to take refuge in England.
After the French revolution I became something of an idol of liberty and democracy. In 1789 I was invited to Paris by the National Constituent Assembly and was celebrated as a hero in front of the assembly. I was afterwards sent back to Corsica having been given the rank of lieutenant-general.Eventually however I became disgusted with the excesses of the French Revolution, and having been accused of treason by the French National Convention, I summoned a consulta (assembly) at Corte in 1793, with myself as president and formally seceded from France. Then, I offered the sovereignty of the island to the British government and invited the British Admiral Samuel Hood to take Corsica in the name of the king of England. For a short time, Corsica was added to the dominions of King George III, chiefly by the exertions of Hood's fleet, and my cooperation. I was soon forced to go into exile once more, and Corsica became a French département.
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