This chapter analyzes a number of nationalist statements in Enlightenment political thought. Although the most ardent voices of late 18th-century nationalism are themselves not always viewed as friends of the Enlightenment, this categorizing tendency is itself partly a reflection of the assumption that the Enlightenment is opposed to nationalism. It is shown that even the most canonical supporters of the Enlightenment themselves embraced a fundamentally nationalist message.
Keywords: Enlightenment, political thought, nationalism, republicanism, Rousseau, Herder, Fichte