Synopses & Reviews
In this volume distinguished historians and political scientists examine political discourse during that short span of years from the Revolution through ratification, a period of profound political and conceptual change. The concepts of "sovereignty," "representation," "liberty," "virtue," "republic," "democracy"—even "constitution" itself—were virtually recoined. Others, like "federalism," were new inventions. Out of the vehement political arguments and debates of the period came not only a new Constitution but a new political vocabulary—a political idiom that was distinctly recognizably American.
Synopsis
This volume calls attention to the changing or multiple meaning of key concepts and terms in Revolutionary-era political thought. As against the tendency to stress the relative homogeneity o the ideas that colaesced in the late 1780s, this collection creates a set of case studies that illuminate the range of issues around which new and disputed positions formed. Contributors include Terence Ball, Lance Banning, James Farr, Russell L. Hanson, Daniel Walker Howe, Peter S. Onuf, J.G.A. Pocock, Gerald Stourzh, and Garry Wills.
Synopsis
In this volume distinguished historians and political scientists examine the linguistic and conceptual dimension of the American Founding. They analyze political discourse during the short span of years from the Revolution through ratification.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Introduction, Terence Ball and J.G.A. Pocock
2. Conceptual Change and Constitutional Innovation, James Farr
3. Constitution: Changing Meanings of the Term from the Early Seventeenth to the Late Eighteenth Century, Gerald Stourzh
4. States, Republics, and Empires: The American Founding in Early Modern Perspective, J. G. A. Pocock
5. State Sovereignty and the Making of the Constitution, Peter S. Onuf
6. James Wilson's New Meaning for Sovereignty, Garry Wills
7. The Language of Faculty Psychology in The Federalist Papers, Daniel Walker Howe
8. "A Republic—If You Can Keep It", Terence Ball
9. "Commons" and "Commonwealth" at the American Founding: Democratic Republicanism as the New American Hybrid, Russell L. Hanson
10. Some Second Thoughts on Virtue and the Course of Revolutionary Thinking, Lance Banning
About the Contributors
Index