Faith and the Founders of the American Republic

Faith and the Founders of the American Republic PDF Author: Daniel L. Dreisbach
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199843333
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
The role of religion in the founding of America has long been a hotly debated question. Some historians have regarded the views of a few famous founders, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Thomas Paine, as evidence that the founders were deists who advocated the strict separation of church and state. Popular Christian polemicists, on the other hand, have attempted to show that virtually all of the founders were pious Christians in favor of public support for religion. As the essays in this volume demonstrate, a diverse array of religious traditions informed the political culture of the American founding. Faith and the Founders of the American Republic includes studies both of minority faiths, such as Islam and Judaism, and of major traditions like Calvinism. It also includes nuanced analysis of specific founders-Quaker fellow-traveler John Dickinson, prominent Baptists Isaac Backus and John Leland, and Theistic Rationalist Gouverneur Morris, among others-with attention to their personal histories, faiths, constitutional philosophies, and views on the relationship between religion and the state. This volume will be a crucial resource for anyone interested in the place of faith in the founding of the American constitutional republic, from political, religious, historical, and legal perspectives.

Faith and the Founders of the American Republic

Faith and the Founders of the American Republic PDF Author: Daniel L. Dreisbach
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019984335X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
Thirteen essays written by leading scholars explore the impact of a rich variety of religious traditions on the political thought of America's founders.

John Witherspoon and the Founding of the American Republic

John Witherspoon and the Founding of the American Republic PDF Author: Jeffry H. Morrison
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780268035082
Category : Presbyterian Church
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Jeffry H. Morrison offers readers the first comprehensive look at the political thought and career of John Witherspoon--a Scottish Presbyterian minister and one of America's most influential and overlooked founding fathers. Witherspoon was an active member of the Continental Congress and was the only clergyman both to sign the Declaration of Independence and to ratify the federal Constitution. During his tenure as president of the College of New Jersey at Princeton, Witherspoon became a mentor to James Madison and influenced many leaders and thinkers of the founding period. He was uniquely positioned at the crossroads of politics, religion, and education during the crucial first decades of the new republic. Morrison locates Witherspoon in the context of early American political thought and charts the various influences on his thinking. This impressive work of scholarship offers a broad treatment of Witherspoon's constitutionalism, including his contributions to the mediating institutions of religion and education, and to political institutions from the colonial through the early federal periods. This book will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in American political history and thought and in the relation of religion to American politics.

Religion and the Founding of the American Republic

Religion and the Founding of the American Republic PDF Author: James H. Hutson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
A balanced and lively look at the role of religion between colonization and the 1840s.

Faith and the Founders of the American Republic

Faith and the Founders of the American Republic PDF Author: Daniel L. Dreisbach
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199843333
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
The role of religion in the founding of America has long been a hotly debated question. Some historians have regarded the views of a few famous founders, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Thomas Paine, as evidence that the founders were deists who advocated the strict separation of church and state. Popular Christian polemicists, on the other hand, have attempted to show that virtually all of the founders were pious Christians in favor of public support for religion. As the essays in this volume demonstrate, a diverse array of religious traditions informed the political culture of the American founding. Faith and the Founders of the American Republic includes studies both of minority faiths, such as Islam and Judaism, and of major traditions like Calvinism. It also includes nuanced analysis of specific founders-Quaker fellow-traveler John Dickinson, prominent Baptists Isaac Backus and John Leland, and Theistic Rationalist Gouverneur Morris, among others-with attention to their personal histories, faiths, constitutional philosophies, and views on the relationship between religion and the state. This volume will be a crucial resource for anyone interested in the place of faith in the founding of the American constitutional republic, from political, religious, historical, and legal perspectives.

Beyond the Founders

Beyond the Founders PDF Author: Jeffrey L. Pasley
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 080789883X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
In pursuit of a more sophisticated and inclusive American history, the contributors to Beyond the Founders propose new directions for the study of the political history of the republic before the Civil War. In ways formal and informal, symbolic and tactile, this political world encompassed blacks, women, entrepreneurs, and Native Americans, as well as the Adamses, Jeffersons, and Jacksons, all struggling in their own ways to shape the new nation and express their ideas of American democracy. Taking inspiration from the new cultural and social histories, these political historians show that the early history of the United States was not just the product of a few "founding fathers," but was also marked by widespread and passionate popular involvement; print media more politically potent than that of later eras; and political conflicts and influences that crossed lines of race, gender, and class. Contributors: John L. Brooke, The Ohio State University Andrew R. L. Cayton, Miami University (Ohio) Saul Cornell, The Ohio State University Seth Cotlar, Willamette University Reeve Huston, Duke University Nancy Isenberg, University of Tulsa Richard R. John, University of Illinois at Chicago Albrecht Koschnik, Florida State University Rich Newman, Rochester Institute of Technology Jeffrey L. Pasley, University of Missouri, Columbia Andrew W. Robertson, City University of New York William G. Shade, Lehigh University David Waldstreicher, Temple University Rosemarie Zagarri, George Mason University

The Decline and Fall of the American Republic

The Decline and Fall of the American Republic PDF Author: Bruce Ackerman
Publisher: Harvard + ORM
ISBN: 0674261364
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
“Audacious . . . offers a fierce critique of democracy’s most dangerous adversary: the abuse of democratic power by democratically elected chief executives.” (Benjamin R. Barber, New York Times bestselling author of Jihad vs. McWorld ) Bruce Ackerman shows how the institutional dynamics of the last half-century have transformed the American presidency into a potential platform for political extremism and lawlessness. Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the War on Terror are only symptoms of deeper pathologies. Ackerman points to a series of developments that have previously been treated independently of one another?from the rise of presidential primaries, to the role of pollsters and media gurus, to the centralization of power in White House czars, to the politicization of the military, to the manipulation of constitutional doctrine to justify presidential power-grabs. He shows how these different transformations can interact to generate profound constitutional crises in the twenty-first century?and then proposes a series of reforms that will minimize, if not eliminate, the risks going forward. “The questions [Ackerman] raises regarding the threat of the American Executive to the republic are daunting. This fascinating book does an admirable job of laying them out.” —The Rumpus “Ackerman worries that the office of the presidency will continue to grow in political influence in the coming years, opening possibilities for abuse of power if not outright despotism.” —Boston Globe “A serious attention-getter.” —Joyce Appleby, author of The Relentless Revolution “Those who care about the future of our nation should pay careful heed to Ackerman’s warning, as well as to his prescriptions for avoiding a constitutional disaster.” —Geoffrey R. Stone, author of Perilous Times

The Founders of the American Republic

The Founders of the American Republic PDF Author: Charles Mackay
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Democracy
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description


Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic

Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic PDF Author: Mark David Hall
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019992984X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
One of leading figures of his day, Roger Sherman was a member of the five-man committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence and an influential delegate at the Constitutional Convention. As a Representative and Senator in the new republic, he had a hand in determining the proper scope of the national government's power as well as drafting the Bill of Rights. In Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic, Mark David Hall explores Sherman's political theory and shows how it informed his many contributions to America's founding. A close examination of Sherman's religious beliefs provides insight into how those beliefs informed his political actions. Hall shows that Sherman, like many founders, was influenced by Calvinist political thought, a tradition that played a role in the founding generation's opposition to Great Britain, and led them to develop political institutions designed to prevent corruption, promote virtue, and protect rights. Contrary to oft-repeated assertions that the founders advocated a strictly secular policy, Hall argues persuasively that most founders believed Christianity should play an important role in the new American republic.

The Founding of the American Republic

The Founding of the American Republic PDF Author: H. Lee Cheek
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN: 9781441182340
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
The Founding of the American Republic aims to provide a fair and thorough reappraisal of the Founding of the American Republic. Oftentimes, the Founders are, when not forgotten, made to fit some "ideological box" -liberals or conservatives, villains or saints. This book proves that such views need to be reconsidered, free from past ideologies and interpretations, to recover their teaching and foster a better understanding of contemporary politics. To do so, the authors let the Founders speak for themselves, by looking first at the Declaration of Independence, which reveals their vision of state and federal authority. Next, they examine how the Declaration was incorporated into the Articles of Confederation, in effect the first Constitution, and finally the Constitution of 1787, the most profound manifestation of the Founders' view of the nature of American politics and society. The Founding of the American Republic takes a broad view of the Founding while resisting an ideologically charged reading of history. A lively, historically accurate analysis for anyone interested in American political history and culture.

The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787

The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 PDF Author: Gordon S. Wood
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 080789981X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 676

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Book Description
One of the half dozen most important books ever written about the American Revolution.--New York Times Book Review "During the nearly two decades since its publication, this book has set the pace, furnished benchmarks, and afforded targets for many subsequent studies. If ever a work of history merited the appellation 'modern classic,' this is surely one.--William and Mary Quarterly "[A] brilliant and sweeping interpretation of political culture in the Revolutionary generation.--New England Quarterly "This is an admirable, thoughtful, and penetrating study of one of the most important chapters in American history.--Wesley Frank Craven