My undergraduate honors thesis for the Hillsdale College history department is now available through Mossey Library.

My thesis tackles the political climate of the period immediately following the French Revolution and the response of the first post-revolution generation (sometimes called the enfants du siècle) as they struggled to find a way forward.

My work challenges a common narrative known as “les deux Frances,” which is the notion that ever since the French Revolution there have been two separate Frances: Catholics in favor of returning to the monarchy, and non-Catholics who support a republican form of government. An insinuation from this narrative is that, if Catholics want to draw upon any sort of historical precedent for their politics, they must opt for the more integralist form.

I argue that Father Henri Lacordaire, O.P. and his political thought present a significant challenge to this narrative. Father Lacordaire was both a committed Catholic and a staunch republican. He famously declared that he wished to “die a repentant religious and an unrepentant liberal.”

If you’re curious how he squared those two seemingly intransigent positions, I invite you to take a look at my essay, publicly available here.