Legal scholar and philosopher, Nicolas Bergasse develops at the beginning of the French Revolution a political and constitutional thought based on original philosophical conceptions. Deputy of the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly, he tries to link the philosophical concept of reason to that of political sovereignty, a legal concept with impor- tant practical consequences. A major personality of the 'Monarchien' party,Bergasse is quickly classified as an opponent of the Revolution. His idea of the sovereignty of universal reason acts like a bridge between the political rationalism of the Enlightenment and designs that will soon be exposed, a few decades later, by the 'Doctrinaires' of the Bourbon Restoration. At the crossroads of historical, legal and philosophical studies, this article aims to analyze precisely Bergasse's thought and to follow the steps of his reasoning.
