The Beginnings of Patriotism

"I read, I study, I examine, I listen, I reflect,
and out of all this I try to form an idea
into which I put as much common sense as I can." [1]
- December 16, 1777, Marquis de Lafayette (age 20)
On August 27th, 1789, the Marquis de Lafayette put forth his bill of rights,[2] The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, based on the American Declaration of Independence, at the National Assembly of France. It would produce the notion that the beginning of the 19th century also brought with it the 'Age of reason'.[3]
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen spel…