A Better Guide Than Reason: Federalists and Anti-FederalistsTransaction Publishers, 01.01.1994 - 220 Seiten In this seminal volume, M. E. Bradford defines the Old Whig political tradition in American thought, showing that the inheritance of the prescriptive anti-federalists still lives. For Bradford, important elements in our heritage from the American Revolution have been systematically hidden from our view by anachronistic and partisan scholarship. He believes that other, more ideological components have been emphasized at the expense of the rest. Here he attempts to return us to our heritage. A Better Guide than Reason is a unique book due to its unusual focus on the Declaration of Independence. Bradford shows that neither equality of condition nor full equality of individual rights for every inhabitant is foreseen by that document, only constitutional equality. For this reason, many scholars have seen a contradiction between the Declaration of 1776 and the Constitution of 1787. Bradford believes that the American Revolution was fought against concentrated power, and asserts that the Declaration is violated whenever such powers are granted in its name. Russell Kirk, in a poignant new introduction, depicts Bradford as "a formidable and learned champion of the permanent things in our patrimony of culture and politics." He discusses Bradford's view that Patrick Henry and John Dickinson were the real heroes of the American Revolutionary period. This volume is of continuing interest to historians, political scientists, and American studies scholars. Professor Jeffrey Hart has called the book "a masterful phenomenology of the American and Western spirit." |
Inhalt
ROMAN HISTORY AND THE NATIONS FIRST IDENTITY | 3 |
A REPLY TO HARRY JAFFA | 29 |
THE REVOLUTION AND THE POPULIST HERITAGE | 59 |
THE POLITICS OF JOHN DICKINSON | 79 |
POLITICS AND THE EXAMPLE OF PATRICK HENRY | 97 |
THE LEGACY OF WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTON | 111 |
THE MAKING AND BINDING OF SELF | 137 |
THE REVOLUTIONARY PRECEDENT AND THE SECESSION OF 1861 | 153 |
THE COLONIAL ORIGINS OF THE SOUTHERN TRADITION | 169 |
AND SECULAR PURITANISM A RHETORIC FOR CONTINUING REVOLUTION | 185 |
RUSSELL KIRK AND AMERICAS MORAL GENEALOGY | 207 |
218 | |
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A Better Guide Than Reason: Federalists and Anti-federalists M.E. Bradford Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2017 |
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American colonies American political American Revolution ancient argument authority Bacon's Rebellion Baton Rouge British called charters Chicago citizens Colbourn common confederation conflict Constitution Continental Congress Convention course culture Declaration of Independence developed document edition England English Englishmen epideictic equality essay fathers Federal Federalist finally Franklin George Georgia Henry's historians honor Ibid identity inherited innovation intellectual John Dickinson King Kirk's liberty Lincoln literature living Livy Louisiana State University M.E. Bradford means ment mind moral natural rights North Carolina Press Old Whig once original Parliament Patrick Henry patriotic Petition Philadelphia Polybius Populist prescription preserve Princeton Professor Jaffa Puritan Quoted reason rebellion Republic republican revolutionary rhetoric Roman history Rome Russell Kirk secession sense slavery slaves social society South Carolina Southern speech spirit theory Thomas Jefferson thought tion tradition Union University Press Virginia William Henry Drayton Willmoore Kendall writes York