Franco-American Alliance: a Century After

The proclamation of the French Third Republic on September 4, 1870 ushered in an era of comprehensive reform. French higher education underwent a thorough transformation in order to measure up to German universities. History, as an academic discipline, experienced a parallel “methodical turn”. This paper discusses the works of French historians of the United States and assesses their progress towards methodical history and their implications for the transatlantic relationship. Works by Adolphe de Circourt and Henri Doniol will be examined. Both authors studied the American Revolution and the adoption of the 1787 Constitution, commemorating in distinct ways the centennial anniversaries of these foundational events.