Pierre du Calvet

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Pierre Du Calvet, (1735 – March 1786), born of a French Huguenot family, was a wealthy merchant who lived in Quebec, Canada.

He proposed legal and constitutional reforms, multiplied opened letters, memoirs and lawsuit, until he was thrown in prison by governor Haldimand, along with Fleury Mesplet and Valentin Jautard of the Gazette littéraire de Montreal.

Favorable to the American cause during the War of Independence, he passionately defended democratic principles. During the first American invasion of Canada, he received the rebels to his house, including Benjamin Franklin.

As soon as he was freed from prison, he left for London to claim justice. It is there that in 1784 he published his Call to the justice of the State in English and French.

He perished at sea in 1786.