Science, Revolution, and Monarchy in Two Letters of Joseph Donath to František Antonín Steinský

Abstract

Two letters from the surviving eighteenth-century correspondence between the polymath professor of history Frantisek Antonin Steinský in Prague and his friend, the merchant Joseph Donath in Philadelphia reveal an interesting episode in the transatlantic connections between Central Europe and North America. On the one hand, Donath’s scientific observations conducted on behalf of Steinský and his associates reveal the shared enlightened pursuits between both regions, while on the other hand, Donath’s scorn for the perceived political backwardness of his former compatriots reflect the widening divide ushered in by the Age of Revolutions. Alongside the first biographical accounts of both Donath and Steinský in English, this article presents for the first time a full transcription of two letters sent from Philadelphia to Prague in the 1790s. It explores the role of science and political discussion within their friendship across the Atlantic and contributes towards unearthing the wider interplay of interpersonal relationships between two different socio-political systems, namely a monarchy and republic.