THE SHAPING OF AMERICAN LIBERALISM by David F. Ericson ( 9780226216843 )

Item Details

Title:

THE SHAPING OF AMERICAN LIBERALISM
THE DEBATES OVER RATIFICATION, NULLIFICATION AND SLAVERY

By:

David F. Ericson

Format:

Paperback

List price:

£28.00

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£25.20

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10% off

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£2.80

ISBN 10:

0226216845

ISBN 13:

9780226216843

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Publisher:

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

Pub. date:

1 March, 1993

Edition:

74th ed.

Pages:

248

Description:

A critique of the ideas espoused in In The Liberal Tradition in America (1955), Louis Hartz, and those of its detractors, such as Bernard Bailyn, who argued that preliberal, republican values initially held sway in eighteenth-century American politics.

Synopsis:

In "The Liberal Tradition in America" (1955), Louis Hartz first put forth his thesis that the American political tradition derives essentially from consensual liberal principles. The many detractors to this theory include Bernard Bailyn, who argued that preliberal, republican values initially held sway in eighteenth-century American politics. In "The Shaping of American Liberalism," David Ericson offers an innovative reinterpretation of both positions by redefining the "terms" of the argument. Focusing on three critical debates in American history the debate between Anti-Federalists and Federalists over the ratification of the Constitution; the debate between the national republicans and the states-rights republicans over the nullification of the tariff; and the Lincoln-Douglas debates over slavery and pluralist democracy Ericson shows that republicanism, rather than being opposed to liberalism, is in fact an offshoot of it. His descriptions of republicanism and pluralism represent the poles of an evolving tradition of liberal ideas in America: the former championing the claims of the public sphere, general welfare, and civic virtue; the latter protecting the rights of the individual to liberty, property, and privacy. Republicanism and pluralism are therefore more properly understood as two sets of competing ideas that evolved from common roots. Ericson concludes that although republican themes persist in American politics, the profound transformations brought about by the Civil War made the ascendancy of pluralism virtually inevitable. This highly original discussion of the relation between liberalism and republicanism the central concern of much of the recent scholarship in American political thought will be important reading for those interested in American politics, history, and culture."

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Imprint:

University of Chicago Press

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Returnable

Some other items by this author:

SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC (HB)

THE DEBATE OVER SLAVERY (HB)

THE DEBATE OVER SLAVERY (PB)

THE LIBERAL TRADITION IN AMERICAN POLITICS