First Enlightenment Republic

I've frequently read that the United States was the second republic to be based on Enlightenment principles, with the first being Corsica. But is this really correct? Corsica was actually claimed to be a Kingdom with the Virgin Mary as a sovereign. That means (a) it wasn't a republic and (b) how Enlightenment-based can it be if the Virgin Mary is the sovereign? It really seems like the USA is being robbed of an honour here.
 
I've frequently read that the United States was the second republic to be based on Enlightenment principles, with the first being Corsica. But is this really correct? Corsica was actually claimed to be a Kingdom with the Virgin Mary as a sovereign. That means (a) it wasn't a republic and (b) how Enlightenment-based can it be if the Virgin Mary is the sovereign? It really seems like the USA is being robbed of an honour here.

Some strains of the Enlightenment were anti-religious, but not all were. The US had a definite component of 'No King but God' in its republicanism too.
 
The whole Enlightenment was not anti-religious, but I will need to do more research before posting an assessment of Corsica.
 
Some strains of the Enlightenment were anti-religious, but not all were. The US had a definite component of 'No King but God' in its republicanism too.

I don't think it was anti-theism, but Enlightenment types would be deist types if they did believe in God. Certainly, I don't think believing in a virgin mother and elevating her to be your sovereign is consistent with Enlightenment principles.
 
I don't think it was anti-theism, but Enlightenment types would be deist types if they did believe in God. Certainly, I don't think believing in a virgin mother and elevating her to be your sovereign is consistent with Enlightenment principles.

Nope, that's just not true. I'm familiar with plenty of Anglo and Scottish Enlightenment figures who were religious and/or who believed that some kind of public religious commitment was important to society. I don't know much about the Med in this period, but I see no reason the same couldn't be true there too.
 
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