Bérenger, Jean-Pierre (1737-1807)

Geneva politician and writer.

Champion of the class of natifs in Geneva whose civil rights were circumscribed.

Franklin apparently encouraged him in his plans to write a history of the United States. Convinced that he would not receive the help necessary to complete the project, he eventually abandoned it.

Author of Mémoire instructif, concernant les natifs (1767), which was burned in Geneva. Exiled (1770). Member of the Société Typographique et littéraire de Lausanne. Thirteen sets of his six-volume work Histoire de Genève depuis son origine jusqu’à nos jours (1772-73), banned by the Genevan authorities, were sent to Franklin.

Allowed to return to Geneva (1781), where he became an important figure in the republic.