Taming Democracy: "The People", The Founders, and the Troubled Ending of the American Revolution
The People, the Founders, and the Troubled Ending of the American Revolution
- Publisher's listprice GBP 33.99
-
15 346 Ft (14 615 Ft + 5% VAT)
The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.
- Discount 10% (cc. 1 535 Ft off)
- Discounted price 13 811 Ft (13 154 Ft + 5% VAT)
Subcribe now and take benefit of a favourable price.
Subscribe
15 346 Ft
Availability
printed on demand
Why don't you give exact delivery time?
Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.
Product details:
- Publisher OUP USA
- Date of Publication 9 April 2009
- ISBN 9780195378566
- Binding Paperback
- No. of pages344 pages
- Size 231x152x25 mm
- Weight 499 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 11 halftones, 2 line illustrations 0
Categories
Short description:
In this highly provocative book, Terry Bouton challenges the received wisdom about what was achieved in 1776, arguing that the American Revolution did not produce the democracy that was hoped for by the American people when they joined the Revolutionary movement.
MoreLong description:
Americans are fond of reflecting upon the Founding Fathers as selfless patriots who came together to force out the tyranny of the British and bring democracy to the land. Unfortunately, as Terry Bouton shows in this highly provocative first book, the Revolutionary elite often seemed as determined to squash democracy after the War of Independence as they were to support it before the conflict.
Centering on Pennsylvania, the symbolic center of the story of democracy's rise during the Revolution, Bouton shows how this radical shift in ideology spelled tragedy for thousands of common people. Leading up to the Revolution, most Pennsylvanians were united in their opinion that "the people" (i.e. white men) should be given access to the political system, and that some degree of wealth equality was required to ensure that political freedom prevailed. As the war ended, Pennsylvania's elites began abandoning these ideas and instead embraced a new vision of the Revolution where government worked to transfer wealth to "moneyed men." By the 1780s, that effort had led them to reenact many of the same laws that they had gone to war to abolish, creating a deep economic depression. When ordinary citizens fought back and tried to reclaim their own vision of the Revolution, the founding elite remade governments to scale back the meaning and practice of democracy. It was this radical narrowing of popular ideals that led directly to the misnamed Whiskey and Fries rebellions, popular uprisings during the 1790s that were both put down by federal armies.
Bouton's work reveals a unique perspective, showing intimately how the war and the events that followed affected the majority of "the people": small farmers, craftsmen, and laborers. Bouton introduces us to the Revolution's unsung heroes - farmers, weavers, and tailors who risked their lives to create democracy and then to defend it against what they called the forces of "united avarice." We also get a starkly new look some familiar characters from the Revolution, including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Robert Morris, and George Washington, men who Bouton strives to make readers see as real, flawed people, blinded by their own sense of entitlement.
This is a rare book - scholarly yet written with verve, readable for pleasure as well as for knowledge.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Part One: The Rise of Democracy (1763-1776)
Oppression: The Origins of the American Revolution
The Vision of '76: Popular Ideology and the Revolution
Part Two: Confronting the Counter-Revolution (1776-1787)
The Gospel of Moneyed Men: The Gentry's New Ideals
The Sheriff's Wagon: The Crisis of the 1780s
Equal Power: "The People" Attempt to Reclaim the Revolution
The Problem with Politics: Why Reform Fell Short
Rings of Protection: Popular Resistance during the 1780s
Part Three: Taming Democracy (1787-1799)
"A Stronger Barrier Against Democracy: The Struggle Over Constitutions
Roads Closed: Depserate Opposition to the New Order
The Pennsylvania Regulation of 1794: A Rebellion over Whiskey?
The Pennsylvania Regulation of 1799: John Fries's Rebellion?
Conclusion
