J.B. Erhard and the "People's Right to Revolution", 1795: Between Kant, Fichte and Rousseau

Born in a tradesmen's family, J.B.E. belonged to the petty Nuremberg bourge oisie influenced by the Enlightenment and the American War of Independence. He experienced the Revolution in a city prone to Jacobin agitation and was one of the few Germans to remain loyal to the Revolution after 1793. Devot ed to Kant, he went further than this philosopher not only in conceding the right to make a revolution, but also in thinking it a duty in certain case s. Justifiable especially in moral terms, the right to make a revolution ca nnot be legally upheld inasmuch as revolution does away with law. By ending his lengthy demonstration with the conclusion that making a revolution is a right of the people, he went further than a whole generation of German th inkers, moving away from the Constitution of 1791 and edging toward that of 1793. In this, he is closer to Rousseau and Fichte than to Kant, which is also observable in his comments on property.