{{Short description|1755 constitution of the Corsican Republic}}
{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=fr|otherarticle=Constitution corse|date=August 2023}}
[[File:Préambule Constitution Corse.jpg|thumb|Preamble of the Corsican Constitution in [[Corsican language|Corsican]], [[French language|French]], [[English language|English]] and [[Italian language|Italian]]]]
The first '''Corsican Constitution''' was drawn up in 1755 for the short-lived [[Corsican Republic]] independent from Genoa beginning in 1755, and remained in force until the [[annexation of Corsica]] by [[Kingdom of France|France]] in 1769. It was written in [[Italian language|Tuscan Italian]], the language of elite Corsican culture at the time.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tufi |first1=Stefania |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGmkCgAAQBAJ |title=The Linguistic Landscape of the Mediterranean: French and Italian Coastal Cities |last2=Blackwood |first2=Robert J. |date=2016-04-29 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-31456-7 |language=en}}</ref>

It was drafted by [[Pasquale Paoli]], and inspired by [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] who, commissioned by the Corsicans, in 1763 wrote ''[[Constitutional Project for Corsica|Projet de constitution pour la Corse]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Dorothy |last=Carrington |authorlink=Dorothy Carrington |title=The Corsican constitution of Pasquale Paoli (1755–1769) |journal=The English Historical Review |date=July 1973 |volume=88 |issue=348 |pages=481–503 |jstor=564654 |doi=10.1093/ehr/lxxxviii.cccxlviii.481}}</ref>

The second Corsican Constitution was drawn up in 1794 for the short-lived (1794–96) [[Anglo-Corsican Kingdom]] and introduced suffrage for all property owners. It was considered a highly democratic constitution for its time.

[[Linda Colley]] credits Paoli with writing the first written constitution of a nation state.<ref>{{cite book|author=Linda Colley|title=The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World |publisher=Profile Books|year=2021|isbn=9781846684975|page=19}}</ref>

==Notes==
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==External links==
* [http://pasqualepaoli.free.fr/2/2.html Text of constitution (in French)]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=dWxaDQaMcg4C&pg=RA1-PA103 Second Corsican constitution (1794)]

[[Category:1755 in law]]
[[Category:1794 in law]]
[[Category:Democracy]]
[[Category:Corsican War of Independence|Constitution]]
[[Category:Constitutions of former countries]]
[[Category:1755 documents]]
[[Category:1794 documents]]
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