Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Introduction PART I - THE American Revolution CHAPTER ONE - RHETORIC and REALITY in the AMERICAN REVOLUTION CHAPTER TWO - The LEGACY of ROME in the AMERICAN REVOLUTION CHAPTER THREE - CONSPIRACY and the PARANOID STYLE: CAUSALITY and DECEIT in the PART II - THE Making OF THE Constitution AND American Democracy CHAPTER FOUR - INTERESTS and DISINTERESTEDNESS in the MAKING of the CONSTITUTION CHAPTER FIVE - The ORIGINS of AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONALISM CHAPTER SIX - The MAKING of AMERICAN DEMOCRACY CHAPTER SEVEN - The RADICALISM of THOMAS JEFFERSON and THOMAS PAINE CONSIDERED PART III - THE Early Republic CHAPTER EIGHT - MONARCHISM and REPUBLICANISM in EARLY AMERICA CHAPTER NINE - ILLUSIONS of POWER in the AWKWARD ERA of FEDERALISM CHAPTER TEN - The AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENT CHAPTER ELEVEN - A HISTORY of RIGHTS in EARLY AMERICA CONCLUSION Acknowledgements NOTES INDEX CREDITS ALSO BY GORDON S WOOD The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (winner of the Bancroft Prize) The Radicalism of the American Revolution (winner of the Pulitzer Prize) The American Revolution: A History The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (winner of the Julia Ward Howe Prize) Revolutionary Characters The Purpose of the Past Empire of Liberty (winner of the American History Prize of the New-York Historical Society) THE PENGUIN PRESS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A ● Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) ● Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England ● Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) ● Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) ● Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi–110 017, India ● Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) ● Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England First published in 2011 by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc Copyright © Gordon S Wood, 2011 All rights reserved Page 387 constitutes an extension of this copyright page LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Wood, Gordon S The idea of America : reflections on the birth of the United States / Gordon S Wood p cm Includes bibliographical references and index eISBN : 978-1-101-51514-3 United States—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Influence United States—Politics and government—1775–1783 United States—Politics and government—1783–1809 United States Constitution Democracy—United States Republicanism—United States I Title E302.1 W77 2011 973.3—dc22 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not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content http://us.penguingroup.com To my friends and colleagues at Brown University Machiavelli, Niccolò Madison, James interests and paper money as viewed by presidency of pure democracy and rights and in Virginia Assembly in writing of Constitution Magna Carta Maison Carrée Mandeville, Bernard Manning, William Mansfield, William Murray, 1st Earl of manufacturing Marbury v Madison Marcus Aurelius Marshall, John Martin, Luther Mason, George Masons Marx, Karl Maryland Mason, George Massachusetts Massachusetts Humane Society Mather, Increase Mayhew, Jonathan Mazzei, Philip McCarthyism McHenry, James McKean, Thomas Memoirs of the Court of Augustus (Blackwell) Metternich, Klemens von Middle East Middleton, Conyers military Millar, John Milton, John Modern Chivalry (Brackenridge) modern state Molière monarchies British criminal punishment in Jefferson and Paine and prevalence of replaced by republicanism republican governments vs state building in war and monarchism in early America presidency and Washington and money: coins paper Monroe Doctrine Montagu, Edward Wortley Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, baron de Augustus as viewed by Monticello morality and values cause and effect and conspiratorial thinking and motives and see also virtue moral philosophy moral sense Morgan, Edmund S Morison, Samuel Eliot Morris, Gouverneur Morris, Robert motives Adams’ views on of British toward colonies in cause and effect of common men concealment of Federalists and morality and Moyle, Walter multicultural diversity Munford, Robert Namier, Lewis National Convention natural rights philosophy nature navy Nelson, John R Nelson, William New England New Hampshire New Jersey New Republic newspapers Newton, Isaac New York New York City New York Times North Carolina Northwest Ordinance Notes on the State of Virginia ( Jefferson) Oath of the Horatii, The (David) Ohio Oliver, Peter Oregon “Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion” (Oliver) Otis, James Ovid Paine, Thomas Age of Reason Agrarian Justice background of character of Common Sense contribution to American Revolution on criminal punishment equality and French Revolution supported by Jefferson compared with minimal government advocated by monarchies and moral and social sense as viewed by public life of religious views of Rights of Man, Part the Second revolutions and society and government as viewed by Paley, William Palmer, R R pamphlets Pamphlets of the American Revolution (Bailyn) paper money paranoia, see conspiracies and paranoia Paranoid Style in American Politics, The (Hofstadter) Parliament, British parliamentary systems Parrington, Vernon Patriots, The (Munford) patronage Patton, James peace Peace Corps Penn, William Pennsylvania Peters, Samuel Philadelphia, Pa Philadelphia Convention Phillips, Wendell Pitt, William Pittsburgh Gazette planters in South in Virginia Plato Platt, Jonas Plummer, William Plutarch Point Four Program Poland “Political Enquiries” (Morris) political leadership: character in disinterestedness in, see disinterestedness political parties political science politicians politics: Anglo-American campaign contributions in campaigning in democratization of; see also democracy international lobbying and logrolling in as profession social authority and see also elected officials; voting Pope, Alexander postal system poverty presidency monarchism and power of president’s title and Price, Richard Principia (Newton) Priestley, Joseph prisons Process of Government, The (Bentley) Progressive historians propaganda property corporate charters as inheritance laws and right of voting rights and proprietary wealth prosecutions Protestants psychology American Revolution and in history writing public officeholding as obligation property qualifications for salaries for see also elected officials Pulteney, William punishment, criminal Puritans race issues Ramsay, David Randolph, Edmund Reflections on the Rise and Fall of the Antient Republicks (Montagu) Reid, Thomas religion Christianity conspiratorial thinking and disestablishment of churches diversity of Jefferson’s views on Paine’s views on and separation of church and state religious corporations Renaissance conspiratorial thinking in representation disinterestedness and, see disinterestedness in England voting and “republic,” use of term “republican,” use of term republicanism Adams and classical in England monarchy replaced by Republican Party see also Jeffersonian Republicans republican synthesis republics fragility of monarchies vs size of Restoration revolutionary syndrome revolutions: American Revolution compared with others American sympathy for European French in eighteenth century Haitian Jefferson and Latin American in nineteenth century Paine and Puritan Russian Rhode Island Richardson, Samuel rights and distinction between public and private realm in early America in England English Bill of Rights royal U.S Bill of Rights Rights of Man, The: Part the Second (Paine) Robinson, William Rodgers, Daniel T Roland, Madame Rollin, Charles Roman Antiquities (Kennett) Rome, ancient conspiracies in fall of Rousseau, Jean-Jacques Rush, Benjamin Russian Revolution Rutledge, John Sallust Sallust (Gordon) Satan satire Schlesinger, Arthur M., Sr Schwarzenegger, Arnold science “Seasons, The” (Thomson) Sedgwick, Theodore self-love and self-interest see also interests Senate separation of church and state separation of powers September Shaftesbury, Lord Shakespeare, William Shays’s Rebellion Shelley, Percy Bysshe Sheridan, Thomas Sherman, Roger Shirley, William Short, William Sidney, Algernon sincerity slavery Jefferson and liberty and Smilie, John Smith, Adam Smith, Page Smith, Samuel Stanhope Smith, William Snyder, Simon social and cultural historians social criticism social hierarchy political power and social science social sense society government and Society for the History of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) Society of the Cincinnati South Africa South America South Carolina South Carolina Gazette Southern Pacific Railroad South: planters in slavery in, see slavery sovereignty Soviet Union Spain Spirit of the Laws, The (Montesquieu) Stamp Act standard of living states banks chartered by bills of rights in confederation of constitutions of histories written of legislatures of politics in power of public improvements and Stein, Gertrude Steuart, James Stiles, Ezra Story, Joseph strangers suffrage, see voting superstition Supreme Court Dred Scott decision of Marshall Swift, Jonathan Switzerland Syrians Tacitus Tacitus (Gordon) Taliban Taney, Roger Tappan, Benjamin Tappan, David taxation Taylor, George V Taylor, John Tennessee Thompson, William Thomson, Charles Thomson, James “Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents” (Burke) Thucydides Tillotson, John Timothy, Peter Tobacco Culture (Breen) Tocqueville, Alexis de Tomkins, Daniel Tories Augustus as viewed by conspiracies and republicanism and Tory interpretation of Revolution trade domestic international see also commerce and business Transformation of Virginia, The (Isaac) Trenchard, John Truman, David Truman Doctrine Trumbull, Jonathan Turner, Frederick Jackson Tyler, Moses Coit tyranny utilitarianism utopianism values, see morality and values Van Schaack, Peter Venturi, Franco Vermont veterans “Vices of the Political System of the United States” (Madison) Vico, Giambattista Vietnam War Virgil Virginia constitution of planters in Statute for Religious Freedom in Virginia Assembly Virginia Plan virtue commerce and disinterestedness and manipulation of see also morality and values Volney, Constantin Franỗois de Chasseboeuf, comte de Voltaire votes, competing for voting blacks and campaign contributions and citizenship and in developing countries in England property qualifications for redistricting and relationship to democracy representation and women and Walpole, Horace Walpole, Robert war Warburton, William War Department War of 1812 Warren, Joseph Warren, Mercy Otis Washington, D.C., Washington, George canals and debts and disinterestedness and elected president financial compensations refused by monarchism and Romans and salary of taxes and wealth proprietary Weber, Max Webster, Daniel Webster, Noah Wesley, John West, Benjamin West, settlement of Whig interpretation of Revolution Whigs Augustus as viewed by motives and causation as interest of paranoia and conspiratorial thinking in public offices and republicanism and voting and Whiskey Rebellion William III, King Williams, Israel Williams, Samuel Wilson, James Wilson, Woodrow Winterer, Caroline Wirt, William Witherspoon, John women voting rights for women’s rights movement Wordsworth, William Worthington, John Wythe, George Young, Arthur Yugoslavia Zenger, John Peter CREDITS CHAPTER “Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution.” This essay originally appeared in the William and Mary Quarterly Reprinted by permission of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture at the College of William and Mary CHAPTER “Conspiracy and the Paranoid Style: Causality and Deceit in the Eighteenth Century.” This essay originally appeared in the William and Mary Quarterly Reprinted by permission of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture at the College of William and Mary CHAPTER “Interests and Disinterestedness in the Making of the Constitution.” From Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity, edited by Richard Beeman, Stephen Botein, and Edward C Carter II Copyright © 1987 by the University of North Carolina Press Used by permission of the publisher www.uncpress.edu CHAPTER “The Making of American Democracy.” Reprinted by permission of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C CHAPTER “Monarchism and Republicanism in Early America.” Reprinted by permission of La Trobe University CHAPTER “Illusions of Power in the Awkward Era of Federalism.” This essay originally appeared in Launching the “Extended Republic”: The Federalist Era, edited by Ronald Hoffman and Peter J Albert (University of Virginia Press, 1996) Reprinted by permission of the publisher CHAPTER 10 “The American Enlightenment.” This essay originally appeared in America and Enlightenment Constitutionalism, edited by Gary L McDowell and Johnathan O’Neill (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006) Reprinted by permission of the publisher CHAPTER 11 “A History of Rights in Early America.” This essay originally appeared in The Nature of Rights at the American Founding and Beyond, edited by Barry Alan Shain (University of Virginia Press, 2007) Reprinted by permission of the publisher ALSO BY GORDON S WOOD The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (winner of the Bancroft Prize) The Radicalism of the American Revolution (winner of the Pulitzer Prize) The American Revolution: A History The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (winner of the Julia Ward Howe Prize) Revolutionary Characters The Purpose of the Past Empire of Liberty (winner of the American History Prize of the New-York Historical Society) ... classes, they dislike slaveholders and racists more Since most of the Federalists were Northerners and opposed to slavery, their status has dramatically risen in the eyes of present-day scholars.24... contestants of the past, whether AntiFederalists versus Federalists or Republicans versus Federalists The responsibility of the historian, it seems to me, is not to decide who in the past was right... professions, the decline of apprenticeship, the rise of statistics, the creation of common schools, the spread of alcohol drinking, the transformation of artisans, the emergence of capitalism,