The arrival of the French Democrats in the Ionian Islands (1797) and their subordination to the French Constitution of the 5th Karposdoros of the 3rd year of the French Republic (August 22, 1795) deeply influenced the political thought of the Ionians, who had been sharpened in the exercise of long-term management of local administration, in a regime of autocratic governance.

This is also the reason why the Ionians did not have difficulty adopting the axiom, which, according to their fellow poet Hugo Foscolo, prevailed throughout Europe after the French Revolution: "a written Constitution is enough to improve political systems and cure all the weaknesses of a Nation".

It is not accidental that, during the first decade - after the dissolution of their bond with the "terrible" lion of St. Mark and despite the fact that there were no shortages of dominations by new "Protectors" - the Ionians managed to articulate, and indeed at all levels of their social stratification, in five different chronological occasions, a constitutional discourse, without ceasing to struggle until their Union with Greece (1864) for its improvement and democratization.

Printed editions and manuscripts of the "Constitutional Texts of the Ionian Islands" of the 19th century, formulated in Greek, Italian, English, French, and Ottoman, were collected in this edition together with the relevant political discourse by Hugo Foscolo, perfectly identified with the thought, intentions, and actions of Ioannis Kapodistrias. The promotion of the whole, until now difficult to find Ionian constitutional discourse, was deemed appropriate to be accompanied by its translation into the Greek language and its commentary by historians and constitutionalists. And this, in order to identify and detect all the forces, often opposing, Ionian or European, collective or individual, that contributed to its formulation, with the expectation of a substantial contribution to the further promotion of the scientific dialogue on issues of Ionian, Greek, European, and Ottoman history.