From virtue to commerce: The Parisian merchant court and the rise of commercial society in eighteenth-century France

This dissertation examines a merchant-run court in eighteenth-century Paris in order to explore the relationship between the rise of capitalism and the emergence of modern, democratically-governed society. It argues that "society" emerged from the confrontation between a traditional commercial culture, grounded in Christian ideals of virtue, and new techniques for extending credit and investing capital, associated with the rise of commercial society.;As embodied in a Christian language of merchant virtue developed in the merchant court, traditional commercial culture placed long-term relationships and mutual well-being above short-term gain and self-interest. This focus on community was crucial for commercial survival in a pre-modern economy and for making commerce palatable to a Christian culture that had long deemed it sinful.;During the eighteenth century, the rise of negotiable instruments and of new forms of commercial association, threatened this traditional commercial culture by creating new, easier opportunities for short-term profit. Merchants responded to this threat by embracing the emerging ideal of "society," as an association of equal individuals united through the division of labor. In society, unlike the traditional, corporate and community-centered order, self-interest was acceptable---even desirable---because it promoted the production and distribution of wealth, thereby serving the general welfare.;In adopting this ideal of "society," merchants were influenced by natural-law jurisprudence, which identified the commercial partnership, or societe, as a microcosm of "society." Given this link between partnership and society, the emergence of a kind of commercial association akin to the modern corporation implied a rethinking of the social order. The societe de capitaux, a juridical entity distinct from its individual members and capable of acting through representatives, suggested that society might someday also govern itself through representatives.;By centralizing the administration of commerce, the monarchy contributed greatly to bringing about the day society demanded self-governance. Centralization weakened the corporate and geographic barriers that had divided merchants, leading them to view themselves as linked by their participation in a national economy and their common relationship to the state. Having identified common interests, merchants united to campaign the monarchy on behalf of these interests, which they equated with those of society.