Édouard Laboulaye

Born in Paris on January 18, 1811, Édouard René de Laboulaye became a prominent French jurist, author, and political thinker. He studied law, wrote widely on comparative law and the United States, and later held a chair at the Collège de France. He was also active in public life, serving in the French Senate during the early years of the Third Republic.

Laboulaye admired American constitutional ideals and strongly opposed slavery. He helped found a French anti-slavery society and became known for arguing that liberty and representative government mattered on both sides of the Atlantic. He is especially remembered for proposing, in 1865, a monument from France to the United States to honor American independence and the end of slavery—an idea that eventually led to the Statue of Liberty.

As an author, Laboulaye wrote not only legal and political works but also popular tales and historical writing. That range helps explain why he still feels interesting today: he was a serious scholar who also knew how to write for ordinary readers. He died in Paris on May 25, 1883, a few years before the Statue of Liberty was unveiled.