A supporter of the Enlightenment attempted to create a modern centralized state and undermine the local power base of the notables and the military.

He aimed to integrate the landless into the national body through the distribution of state land and the creation of a unified legal system. Thus, small landowner peasants would acquire serious incentives to join the new system, and localism, which was reinforced by the notables and armed groups, would lose its foothold.

Education, protection of the vulnerable, and the reconstruction of the country were his main goals.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]