An Empire of Liberty - Book Club

The ASET Book Club selection for the Oct. 28 meeting is Empire of Liberty by Gordon Wood. Given the massive nature of this history, it might be useful to prepare for that discussion by an online discussion of the book in parts. This blog post will present what I see as intriguing points made by Gordon as well as my questions focusing on the Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2. I hope to repeat this type of posting regularly before our meeting to include all 19 chapters.

Introduction - Rip Van Winkle

This is, I think, an effective and very clever way to set the stage for a history of the United States between 1789 and 1815. The issue of transformation of society is captured in Washington Irving's famous tale. This motif of transformation is one that informs Wood's view of the period as it has for many economic historians - ranging from Robert Heilbroner - The Economic Transformation of America to more mainstream type analysis by Gary Walton and Jonathon Hughes.

This tale captures as well a major tension that from this period to the present - the Hamilton/Jefferson dialectic of power v liberty, tradition v the new and this dialectic takes place in a diverse environment. Van Winkle is Dutch and the selection of a non English protagonist invites the reader to reconsider stereotypes of a homogeneous English colony that rebelled against a mother country.

Wood writes on page 4 that "The transformation Amercans had experienced was unintentional . . . ." just as the long sleep of Rip was unintentional and, by implication, beyond his control.

I can't be certain if Woods is concerned with this issue of control, that is examining the locus of "control" of transformation, although his frequent reference to Adam Smith in the first chapter of his book does seem to suggest that he may well be exploring transformation as an evolutionary and emergent process.

Chapter 1 - Experiment in Republicanism

The tension that informs this chapter is private v public virtue - Adam Smith's concern in Theory of Moral Sentiments. Wood references directly or by implication the American Creed and the Genteel Tradition. The author of the later was referenced by Boyes in his last post and is a useful prism for considering the tension between Federalists and Republicans.

I couldn't help but think of Lipsett and the notion of American exceptionalism in my reading of the last sentence of chapter 1 on page 52. Moreover, Smith's view of the stoics and the impartial spectator runs through this first chapter (pages 7, 12, particularly 24, 33, 48). I found this, understandably, an effective device and, while it seems to tip us to Woods' sympathy for Jefferson - the discussion on page 11first full paragraph echoes both Smith's system of natural liberty and the musical metaphor that Smith employees to great effect in Theory of Moral Sentiments. (see Dan Klein/Russ Roberts excellent 6 part podcasts on TMS)

The genteel v vernacular that Santayana considers in his early 19th century work is also prominent in this first chapter. This is found on 36 and 38 as Woods explores the expanding middle class or middling sorts in relation to the elite and the commoner. As part of the American Creed this tension between egalitarianism, populism and liberty shaped the Constitutional debates and seems to continue to inform our public and private discourse about decision making in matters economic and political.

A digression, the Gilder Lehrman Institute has a number of outstanding podcasts - including Woods discussing this book, particularly the Rip Van Winkle opening. A podcast by Larry Kramer (he has 6, I believe) on constitutional law was particularly relevant to this analysis of the tension between the genteel and vernacular. He was describing pre revolutionary modes of constitutional enforcement (this would be the large written and unwritten traditions of the British constitution) and he described the role of mobbing as an acceptable enforcement mechanism. I will refer you to the podcast here - but he refers to legislation read by the constable or sheriff when a mob began to form - this was the reading of the Riot Act. Interesting . . .

Chapter 2 - Monarchial Republic

Woods ends this chapter (page 94) with an interesting and confusing comment in the second sentence of the preultimate paragraph. In describing the reaction against Hamilton's program he says it was opposed by a group that was "critical libertarian and anti-capitalist . . ." Is this last comment a fair representation of the anti-Federalist position?

Does opposing the mercantilist view that Hamilton articulated in his 4 reports to the Congress and implemented during his stay as Secretary of the Treasury constitute an attack on capitalism or a defense?

This chapter extends the analysis of the tension between private and public virtue - a dichotomy I am finding in an excellent book by David Hackett Fischer - Liberty and Freedom

I did find Woods characterization of the British commercial system so admired by Hamilton as "fiscal-military" to be both telling and relevant to our discussion today of the appropriate locus for decision making.

I learned three new things, two about about Washington and one about Madison from this chapter - first his sensitivity to public opinion may well have been prompted by more than a thin skin, two his appreciation of the power of symbol - the importance of the new capital, the rituals associated with the new Federal government, etc. The personal commitment to honor and virtue (both private and public) that prompted Madison to not only support a Bill of Rights but to act decisively to insure their passage.