Treatise on Tolerance

About “Treatise on Tolerance”

Treatise on Tolerance is a work by Voltaire that was inspired by the trial and execution of Jean Calas, a French Protestant merchant. Calas was accused of killing his son, Marc-Antoine, to stop him from converting to Catholicism. He was executed in Toulouse on March 10, 1762, despite there being no evidence against him. The execution was influenced by a hostile mob and the strict enforcement of some local judges. Voltaire was deeply affected by the injustice and worked to clear Calas's name. In 1765, after the king replaced the main judge, the case was reviewed, and Calas was posthumously declared innocent. His family received 36 thousand francs as compensation. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)