Here’s another comment that helps refine the discussion I’m interested in, this time posted on New Deal 2.0 in response to my final “Founding Finance” post there: I am curious where Jefferson (and for that matter Madison, Adams, Washington, and the other main framers) spoke hesitantly about democracy, the people, and the state legislatures. Conservatives [...]
Posts Tagged ‘John Adams’
The Founders vs. American Democracy
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1776, American history, conservatives, finance, George Washington, Glenn Beck, historiography, James Madison, John Adams, liberty, Tea Party, Thomas Paine, U.S. Constitution on May 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Is Social Democracy French?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1776, American history, evangelicals, finance, historiography, John Adams, liberals, Tea Party, Thomas Paine on May 11, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Wow. In the comment thread on Naked Capitalism, regarding my final New Deal 2.0 “Founding Finance” post, the commenter Peripheral Visionary offers the best-informed, most gracefully and concisely written summary I’ve ever seen of the classic interpretation of the American founding from which my work is precisely intended to dissent. This is so commonly believed, [...]
Thomas Paine and the Democratic Revolutionaries: Egypt 2011, America 1776
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1776, American history, Christianity, Continental Congress, Declaration of Independence, democracy, Egypt, evangelicals, George Washington, historiography, John Adams, religion and the founders, Thomas Paine on February 16, 2011 | 5 Comments »
To the young democratic resisters in Egypt, some of whom I’ve heard saying in street interviews that they admire the American Revolution, I want to say something complicating. (No, I don’t literally think they’re taking time out of changing their country and the world to follow my blog — but hey, you never know!) This: [...]
Amendments, mobs, God, rights, guns, Pilgrims, Adams, etc.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1776, Alexander Hamilton, American history, American independence, Christianity, Christine O'Donnell, civil rights, Declaration of Independence, federal judiciary, Glenn Beck, James Madison, John Adams, left wing, liberals, liberty, Puritans, Samuel Adams, U.S. Constitution on December 30, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Responding here to a bunch of comments posted during recent months, since I don’t like burying and scattering the discussion: Elites versus the crowd. Working backward and starting with lacithedog’s comment on my “New Deal 2.0″ post. Laciethedog is reading Declaration and comments further on the “New Deal” post here. I appreciate the interest and [...]
John Adams the Yankee v. Samuel Adams the Puritan
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged American history, American independence, Christianity, Continental Congress, Declaration of Independence, evangelicals, historiography, John Adams, religion and the founders, Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine on September 27, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Over at American Creation, there are a couple of related posts from the always thought-provoking Jonathan Rowe on topics with great appeal for me. One is a link to an older post, on Rowe’s other site The One Best Way, about John Adams’s liberal ideas on religion; the other is on the illiberality of the [...]
Correction to the Wall Street Journal Review of “Declaration”
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1776, American history, American independence, Continental Congress, Declaration of Independence, John Adams on July 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Delighted to have the WSJ review over the holiday weekend, but there’s a fact that needs correcting, so I’ve done so in a letter to the editor, published in today’s edition. The gist: Mr. Bakshian cites John Adams … quoting the famous letter to Abigail Adams in which John predicts that America’s independence will one day [...]
Was May 15, 1776, Independence Day?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1776, American history, American independence, Continental Congress, Declaration of Independence, historiography, John Adams, John Dickinson, Pennsylvania, Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine on June 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I’m going around saying that the story I tell in Declaration, despite its centrality, is little known. Yet one of the better-known dates, pivotal to the story, is Wednesday, May 15, 1776, when the Congress voted to add a preamble to a resolution it had passed on Friday, May 10. Because John Adams co-sponsored the [...]
