Law
Southeast Asian Politics: Court Records, Imelda Marcos
Unofficial power is difficult to document, yet the martial law years in the Philippines were often described in the media as the “conjugal dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos” (1972-1986). This epithet articulates succinctly the perception of the First Lady’s power behind the scenes.
Southeast Asian Politics: Nonfiction, Philippine Suffrage
This is an essay written by suffragist Trinidad Fernandez Legarda, editor of The Woman’s Outlook and President of the National Federation of Women’s Clubs (NFWC). NFWC led the campaign for suffrage in the Philippines in 1921.
Louis XVI’s Reply to the Parlement of Paris (1788)
The fiscal and administrative reforms issued as royal decrees in the autumn of 1787 were opposed vociferously by the Parlements. To force their registration, the King held a "royal session" on 19 November 1787.
A Positive American View
Benjamin Franklin Bache, grandson on Benjamin Franklin, was a supporter of Jefferson’s Republican Party. His sympathetically summarized the situation in France during the period when Louis XVI was put on trial and executed.
Benjamin Constant, Leader of French Liberal Opposition to Napoleon
Benjamin Constant (1767–1830) spent the early years of the French Revolution in a post at a minor German court. He moved to Paris in 1795 and became active in French politics (and became the lover of de Staël).
The Prussian Reform Edict (9 October 1807)
In response to his defeat by Napoleon, Prussian King Frederick William I, pushed by his ministers, initiated a series of reforms intended to modernize property relationships and the administration of the state. This edict abolished serfdom.
The Continental System (1806)
Since 1793, the French government had carried out policies intended to ruin British commerce; it hoped in this way to eliminate or at least dampen the British will to join in and its ability to finance military coalitions against the French.
The Confederation of the Rhine and the Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire (1 August 1806)
To increase his control over the German states and definitively destroy the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon set up the Confederation of the Rhine, grouping together a large number of formerly indepedent states, and forced the Emperor to abdicate his position.
The Glitter of the Imperial Court
The memoirs of Claire, Countess of Rémusat provide a bird’s-eye view into the operation of Napoleon’s imperial household. Rémusat was a lady-in-waiting to Napoleon’s first wife Josephine. Napoleon wanted an elaborate court to underline his imperial power.
The French Civil Code (1804)
Napoleon brought to completion a project dear to the hearts of the revolutionaries, the drafting of new law codes.