Constitutional Project for Corsica

The valor and firmness with which this brave people has shown itself able to regain and defend its freedom richly deserve the aid of some wise man who will teach them how to preserve it.

On May 26, 1765, Rousseau wrote another letter to Buttafuoco in which he declared, "that for the rest of my life I shall have no other interest but myself and Corsica; all other matters will be completely banished from my thoughts.

"[2] Rousseau abandoned this assignment, leaving the work unfinished when France deposed Paoli in 1768 and made Corsica subject to French laws.

Laws should be framed to induce people to avoid gathering in cities; trade, commerce, and finance should be discouraged since they lead to fraudulent activities.

"Rousseau's larger argument was that Corsica should resist modernization at all costs in order to preserve its primitive simplicity," writes Damrosch.