The Republics of France and the United States: 240 Years of Friendship September 19-22, 2019 Paris, France
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The Republics of France and the United States: 240 Years of Friendship September 19-22, 2019 Paris, France THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 7:00 p.m. Welcome Dinner Location: Hôtel de Soubise - French National Archives (Business Attire) 60 Rue des Francs Bourgeois, 75004 Paris • Doug Bradburn, George Washington’s Mount Vernon • Annick Allaigre, President, Université de Paris 8 (Vincennes Saint-Denis) • Jean-Michel Blanquer, French Minister of National Education* FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 Location: Automobile Club de France (Private club: coat and tie required) 6 Place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris, France 9:00 a.m. Session I: The Legacies of 1763 Scholars from France and the United States examine the larger context of the French-American relationship in the period before American Independence, with a focus on the British and French Atlantics, the slave trade, and the important geopolitical role of Native Americans. • CHAIR: Kevin Butterfield, George Washington’s Mount Vernon • Manuel Covo, University of California, Santa Barbara • Edmond Dziembowski, Université de Franche-Comté • David Preston, The Citadel 10:30 a.m. Session II: French Armies and Navies at War in America How did the military and naval forces of the United States and France overcome their social and cultural differences in order to work together to defeat Great Britain and secure American independence? 1 • CHAIR: Julia Osman, Mississippi State University • Olivier Chaline, Université Paris IV • Larrie D. Ferreiro, George Mason University • Joseph Stoltz, George Washington’s Mount Vernon 12:00 p.m. Lunch Program: François-Jean de Chastellux, the Unsung Hero Who was the Marquis de Chastellux? Based on a previously unexamined archive still privately held by the Chastellux family, new research sheds light on a heretofore unknown pivotal figure in the American Revolution who served alongside George Washington and became one of his dearest friends. Courtesy of the family, a hand-picked display of documents from the archive will accompany this session. • Iris de Rode, Université de Paris 8 (Vincennes Saint-Denis) • Philippe de Chastellux, Chastellux Family 1:45 p.m. Session III: The Indispensable Mapmakers of Washington, Rochambeau, and Lafayette Long-neglected but immensely important, maps made especially for the leaders of the American and French forces in the Revolution can tell entirely new stories about the course of the War for Independence and the nation it produced. • Richard H. Brown, Vice Chairman, Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center 3:00 p.m. Session IV: The French-American Alliance: A Material View The alliance of 1778 launched a trans-Atlantic cultural exchange that transformed both nations. French society celebrated Benjamin Franklin’s homespun suit and fur hat as the embodiment of the natural man and emblems of the American cause, and the rift with England gave Americans unprecedented direct access to the glittering world of Parisian style — the studios of artists and sculptors, the workshops of cabinetmakers, the salesrooms of porcelain manufactories. Panelists explore how French styles and objects spread throughout North America in the eighteenth century, among both white and Native communities, and how George Washington incorporated French art and furnishings in his “republican style of living,” at both Mount Vernon and the president’s house, thus embedding French taste firmly in American culture. • Mathilde Schneider, Métropole Rouen Normandie • Susan P. Schoelwer, George Washington’s Mount Vernon • Ashli C. White, University of Miami 6:30 p.m. Private reception at the Residence of the U.S. Ambassador to France Location: Hôtel de Pontalba (Business Attire) 41 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris • The Honorable Jamie D. McCourt, The Ambassador of the United States of America • Patrick O'Connell, The Inn at Little Washington 2 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 Location: Cercle de l'Union Interalliée (Private club: coat and tie required) 33 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris 9:00 a.m. Roundtable: New Scholarship in France on the American Revolution Get a rapid-fire preview of the latest research on the history of the United States and France in the Age of Revolutions by young scholars at the forefront of this work. • CHAIR: Bertrand Van Ruymbeke, Université de Paris 8 (Vincennes Saint-Denis) ) and Institut Universitaire de France • Jean-Baptiste Goyard, Université de Versailles Saint Quentin (American Revolution and the Ancient World) • Emilie Mitran, Université of Aix en Provence (Gouverneur Morris in France) • Florence Petroff, Université de Paris 8 (Vincennes Saint-Denis) (Scotland and the American Revolution) • Seynabou Thiam, Université de Paris 8 (Vincennes Saint-Denis) (Black Loyalists in Nova- Scotia) • Leïla Tnainchi, Université de Franche-Comté Besançon (Franklin in Paris) 10:30 a.m. Session II: Americans in France / The French in America What were the experiences of French exiles living in America in a time of revolutionary upheaval? And what of the American diplomats living in Paris as the French Revolution began? Four authors bring to life to how two national cultures transformed one another. • CHAIR: Bernard de Montferrand, The Society of the Cincinnati • François Furstenberg, Johns Hopkins University • Carine Lounissi, University of Rouen • Allan Potofsky, Université Paris Diderot • Bertrand Van Ruymbeke, Université de Paris 8 (Vincennes Saint-Denis) and Institut Universitaire de France • Philipp Ziesche, Papers of Benjamin Franklin 12:15 p.m. Lunch Program: George Washington’s Reputation in France How did a young George Washington—a man many in France believed had confessed to assassinating a French officer during the French and Indian War—go from being one of the most hated men in the French press in the 1750s to be a heralded hero and a symbol of republican virtue two decades later? • Julia Osman, Mississippi State University 2:00 p.m. Session III: Constitutions and Political Ideas in America and France The American and French Revolutions were not merely military affairs. Scholars from France and the United States outline the uncharted beginnings of constitutional democracy in the two republics and the 3 intellectual exchange that gave birth to the modern democratic order. • CHAIR: Kevin Butterfield, George Washington’s Mount Vernon • J.C.D. Clark • Eliga Gould, University of New Hampshire • Gérard Hugues, Emeritus Professor, Université de Provence, Aix-Marseille • Céline Spector, Université Paris IV 3:45 p.m. Session IV: France and America: The Past and the Future Between the close of the American Revolution and the decision of the United States more than a century later to enter the First World War, the French-American relationship has witnessed long periods of harmony and intense moments of friction. Throughout much of the twentieth century and into the twenty- first, there has been an enduring partnership between the two nations. A panel of leading experts in the long history of the relations between the two nations will explore this history and comment on the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. • CHAIR: Doug Bradburn, George Washington’s Mount Vernon • Bernard de Montferrand, Société des Cincinnati de France • Jérémie Gallon, American Chamber of Commerce in France • Général Jean-Paul Paloméros, French-American Foundation • Kevin Scheid, NATO Communications and Information Agency • Alain Papiasse* 7:30 p.m. Gala Dinner Location: Hôtel des Monnaies, The Paris Mint (Business Attire) 11 Quai de Conti, 75006 Paris • Doug Bradburn, George Washington’s Mount Vernon • André Kaspi, Emeritus Professor, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 Excursion: Choice of Excursion (Smart Casual Attire) 8:00 a.m. Departure from Plaza Athénée PRIVATE TOUR OF THE CHATEAU DE CHASTELLUX Join us for a truly unique adventure to Burgundy to the ancestral chateau of the Marquis de Chastellux, the unsung hero of the American Revolution whose letters reveal new information about the war and his special friendship with George Washington. Phillipe de Chastellux, a relative of the Marquis, currently resides in the family home, parts of which date to 1080 when his family first built it. Monsieur Chastellux graciously invites you to be his guest as he leads you on a tour of the chateau, including the library where never-before-seen documents from the 4 archive will be on display. Lunch will be served in the historic Salle de Garde of the chateau, or in the garden (weather permitting) which was a Roman encampment 2000 years ago and looks onto the Cure River. The excursion will include a brief visit to the tiny hilltop village of Vézelay, a Unesco World Heritage Site and part of the "Most Beautiful Villages of France.” Crowned by a medieval basilica and surrounded by a patchwork of vineyards, Vézelay has been a center of Christianity since the Middle Ages as a rallying point of the pilgrimage to St Jacques de Compostela. -OR- 8:30 a.m. Departure from Plaza Athénée PRIVATE TASTING AT MAISON MOËT & CHANDON, EPERNAY Moët & Chandon invites guests of Mount Vernon for a private tour of its historic cellars and vineyards. Established in 1743, Moët brings centuries of winemaking excellence to its position as the largest maker of champagne in the world. Experts will guide you through fabled chalk cellars and tastings of the champagne admired by the Marquise de Pompadour, Napoleon the 1st and a long list of fabled oenophiles. Lunch will be provided. Guests will also enjoy a visit to nearby Reims and its famous cathedral, Notre Dame de Reims, a Unesco World Heritage site. The cathedral, built between the 13th and 15th Centuries, dazzles with generations of stained glass and is revered as the site of the coronation of 31 French kings, beginning with Louis VIII in 1223. The coronation of Charles VII in 1429 was done in the presence of Joan of Arc, and the last coronation held in the cathedral for Charles X in 1825. or *Speakers Invited. Certain venues are tentative and may change. Revised August 13, 2019 5 .