The Myth of American Individualism

"Barry Shain is perhaps not so much an anti-liberal as a general troublemaker determined to cause embarrassment on all sides. In The Myth of American Individualism, he studies the years 1760-90, and he finds this period very much different from the one characterized by individualism which liberals have portrayed. On the other hand, he finds no secular republicanism of the kind celebrated by Hannah Arendt and the `communitarians' she has inspired."---Harvey Mansfield, Times Literary Supplement

Auteur

Barry Alan Shain is Associate Professor of Political Science at Colgate University.

Texte du rabat

Sharpening the debate over the values that formed America's founding political philosophy, Barry Alan Shain challenges us to reconsider what early Americans meant when they used such basic political concepts as the public good, liberty, and slavery. We have too readily assumed, he argues, that eighteenth-century Americans understood these and other terms in an individualistic manner. However, by exploring how these core elements of their political thought were employed in Revolutionary-era sermons, public documents, newspaper editorials, and political pamphlets, Shain reveals a very different understanding--one based on a reformed Protestant communalism. In this context, individual liberty was the freedom to order one's life in accord with the demanding ethical standards found in Scripture and confirmed by reason. This was in keeping with Americans' widespread acceptance of original sin and the related assumption that a well-lived life was only possible in a tightly knit, intrusive community made up of families, congregations, and local government bodies. Shain concludes that Revolutionary-era Americans defended a Protestant communal vision of human flourishing that stands in stark opposition to contemporary liberal individualism. This overlooked component of the American political inheritance, he further suggests, demands examination because it alters the historical ground upon which contemporary political alternatives often seek legitimation, and it facilitates our understanding of much of American history and of the foundational language still used in authoritative political documents.

Contenu
Acknowledgments Pt. 1Standing: The Public Good, the Individual, and the Community Ch. 2A Sketch of 18th-Century American Communalism Ch. 3Localism and the Myth of American Individualism Ch. 4Three Leading Views of the Individual, Plus One Pt. 2The Meaning of Liberty in the Revolutionary Era Ch. 6Spiritual Liberty: The Quintessential Liberty Ch. 7Corporate Liberty: Political and Civil Ch. 8The Concept of Slavery: Liberty's Antithesis Afterword Bibliography Index