See The Language Of Liberty, Ch 3, esp p 279, etc.
Clark sees the American Rebellion as a Civil War, and what we call The Civil War as the Second Civil War, with rebellions and unrest throughout the period from the 1760s to the 1880s, I guess.
Dissent, Rebellions, frontier violence of various kinds and causes, and threats of secession, though common before 1776, were also endemic here after the American Rebellion. Clark, p. 279. But they were grounded in denominational rather than enlightenment democratic or secular foundations. Only later were those explanations Whiggishly read back into the revolutionary period.
Folks here think of the American Rebellion as having finally settled some things, just as they later claimed that the Civil War settled some of the same things. Neither has ever been true.
Folks here think of the American Rebellion as having finally settled some things, just as they later claimed that the Civil War settled some of the same things. Neither has ever been true.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
SEE DK'S CURRENT POST
'....The Constitution is not primarily at fault.'
He does, however, cite certain weaknesses, which Toobin also notes.
There are plenty of others, I call them structural problems, but they also flow from suspicion of the ancient regime itself, and from the colonial geopolitical status quo ante, that neither of them apparently feel a need to go back into or address.
Bailyn's works best show how the stage was set, so to speak, for these weaknesses to emerge in the constitution, as well as in American society and culture generally.
He does, however, cite certain weaknesses, which Toobin also notes.
There are plenty of others, I call them structural problems, but they also flow from suspicion of the ancient regime itself, and from the colonial geopolitical status quo ante, that neither of them apparently feel a need to go back into or address.
Bailyn's works best show how the stage was set, so to speak, for these weaknesses to emerge in the constitution, as well as in American society and culture generally.
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