Envisioning New Switzerland

During one of the most tumultuous decades in the history of Switzerland, a small group of Vaudois republicans chose to relocate to the New World. In April 1800, at Le Chenit in the Vallée de Joux, five families framed a compact intended to organize a communal settlement in the Northwest Territory. Recently discovered, their pact is presented here in its original French and in English translation, along with an accompanying letter; additionally, another letter and an English translation of the compact as prepared by Jean Jaques Dufour in 1801 is supplied. Dufour is considered a founding father of American viticulture, and the Swiss settlers at Vevay, Indiana the first to succeed as commercial winemakers in the territorial United States. Of interest to scholars with an interest in founding documents, early American communes, early American commercial enterprises, the processes of cultural assimilation, and Swiss history in the Napoleonic era.