The Creation of the American Republic 1776-1787

by Wood, Gordon S.

• ISBN13: 9780807847237
• ISBN10: 0807847232
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-04-01
• Publisher: Omohundro Inst of Early Amer

Summary

One of the half dozen most important books ever written about the American Revolution. New York Times Book Review During the nearly two decades since its publication, this book has set the pace, furnished benchmarks, and afforded targets for many subsequent studies. If ever a work of history merited the appellation 'modern classic,' this is surely one. William and Mary Quarterly [A] brilliant and sweeping interpretation of political culture in the Revolutionary generation. New England QuarterlyThis is an admirable, thoughtful, and penetrating study of one of the most important chapters in American history. Wesley Frank Craven

Table of Contents

Preface to the 1998 Edition	v
Preface	xv
PART ONE: THE IDEOLOGY OF REVOLUTION	1	(124)
The Whig Science of Politics	3	(43)
History and Reason	3	(7)
The English Constitution	10	(8)
Power against Liberty	18	(10)
English Corruption	28	(8)
The Pattern of Tyranny	36	(7)
The Preservation of Principles	43	(3)
Republicanism	46	(45)
A New People for a New World	46	(2)
The Appeal of Antiquity	48	(5)
The Public Good	53	(12)
The Need for Virtue	65	(5)
Equality	70	(5)
Whig Resentment	75	(8)
The Pennsylvania Revolution	83	(8)
Moral Reformation	91	(34)
The Easy Transition to Republicanism	91	(2)
The Debate over the Genius of the People	93	(4)
Republicans by Nature	97	(10)
American Corruption	107	(7)
A Christian Sparta	114	(4)
Republican Regeneration	118	(7)
PART TWO: THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATES	125	(132)
The Restructuring of Power	127	(35)
Foundations for Freedom	127	(5)
The Transformation of the Magistracy	132	(11)
The Power of Appointment	143	(7)
Separation of Powers	150	(12)
The Nature of Representation	162	(35)
The Representative Legislature	162	(11)
Virtual Representation	173	(8)
The Explicitness of Consent	181	(7)
Ambassadors to an Extraneous Power	188	(9)
Mixed Government and Bicameralism	197	(60)
The American Defense of the Mixed State	197	(5)
Mixed Republics	202	(4)
The Senatorial Part of the Society	206	(8)
Persons and Property	214	(8)
Simple Democracy	222	(4)
A Radical Experiment in Politics	226	(11)
The Homogeneity of Orders	237	(7)
A Double Representation of the People	244	(13)
PART THREE: THE PEOPLE AGAINST THE LEGISLATURES	257	(134)
Law and Contracts	259	(47)
Written and Unwritten Law	259	(9)
The Contract of Rulers and Ruled	268	(5)
The Constitution as Fundamental Law	273	(9)
The Social Contract	282	(9)
The Ambiguity of American Law	291	(15)
Conventions of the People	306	(38)
The Novelty of Constitutional Conventions	306	(4)
The Deficiency of Conventions	310	(9)
The People Out-of-Doors	319	(9)
A Power Superior to the Ordinary Legislature	328	(16)
The Sovereignty of the People	344	(47)
The Anglo-American Debate over Sovereignty	344	(10)
The Articles of Confederation	354	(9)
The Disintegration of Representation	363	(9)
The Transferal of Sovereignty	372	(11)
The Disembodiment of Government	383	(8)
PART FOUR: THE CRITICAL PERIOD	391	(78)
Vices of the System	393	(37)
The Incongruity of the Crisis	393	(3)
The Perversion of Republicanism	396	(7)
The Abuses of Legislative Power	403	(6)
Democratic Despotism	409	(4)
Political Pathology	413	(12)
The Continuance of Hope	425	(5)
Republican Remedies	430	(39)
Constitutional Reform	430	(8)
Whiggism Against Itself	438	(8)
The Revision of Separation of Powers	446	(7)
The Enhancement of the Judiciary	453	(10)
The Abandonment of the States	463	(6)
PART FIVE: THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION	469	(96)
The Worthy against the Licentious	471	(48)
The Federalist Revolution	471	(4)
The Separation of Social and Political Authority	475	(8)
Aristocracy and Democracy	483	(16)
The Extended Sphere of Government	499	(7)
The Filtration of Talent	506	(13)
The Federalist Persuasion	519	(46)
The Repudiation of 1776	519	(5)
Consolidation or Confederation	524	(8)
The Primal Power of the People	532	(4)
The Irrelevance of a Bill of Rights	536	(7)
The Alliance of Power and Liberty	543	(4)
The Checking and Balancing of Power	547	(6)
The Redefinition of Bicameralism	553	(9)
The Triumph and End of American Ideology	562	(3)
PART SIX: THE REVOLUTIONARY ACHIEVEMENT	565	(54)
The Relevance and Irrelevance of John Adams	567	(26)
The Ensnaring of the Enlightenment	567	(2)
No Special Providence for Americans	569	(5)
The Balanced Constitution	574	(6)
The Anomaly of the Defence of the Constitutions	580	(7)
An Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the Government of the United States	587	(6)
The American Science of Politics	593	(26)
Democratic Republics	593	(3)
The Pervasiveness of Representation	596	(4)
The Equation of Rulers and Ruled	600	(2)
The Parceling of Power	602	(4)
The End of Classical Politics	606	(13)
A Note on Sources	619	(10)
Select List of Full Titles	629	(6)
Index	635