Description: US history, antebellum history, american revolution, individualism, american politics, congressional politics, hamilton, adams, jefferson, jackson, self-government, self-rule, political theory, american slavery, pursuit of happiness, crisis over slavery, limited government
hamilton (1444) jackson (849) adams (274) jefferson (248) american revolution (96) us history (39) american politics (30) individualism (14) antebellum history (1) congressional politics (1)
By almost any measure the decision by the thirteen British colonies to declare independence and create a new nation was a singular event. Not only were the colonies the first to rebel against their European masters, but they were also the first to propose a form of government that tested some long-standing principles about how nations should be governed. Many ideas on government and law, political contracts and individual aspirations grew out of published treatises of the previous century. By the middle of
There is little debate that Americans saw themselves in the vanguard of advocating a new and profoundly different form of governance. By stressing the capacity of the individual to govern himself, they redefined the relationship between the ruler and the ruled. Governance should be arranged in such a fashion that it enhanced individual liberty rather than constraining individual action. Some were so terrified at the idea of unleashing the people to make their own political decisions that they remained rigid
This study-- To Rule Onself --begins and ends with the two events most written about in American History---revolution and civil war. The aim is to try to rethink how we moved from "the pursuit of happiness" to "the pursuit of separation". The nation slid back and forth between being governed and rebelling against being governed. The results speak for themselves.