Culture and Liberty in the Age of the American Revolution

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. A Critique of Self-Evident Liberty 17 2. British Legacies 34 i. Privilege at the Heart of Freedom 34 ii. The Marriage of Rights and Inequality 41 3. The Transmission of Restricted Liberty to Colonial America 56 i. Reproducing the Old World Order in the Provinces 56 ii. Fear of Levelling and Licentiousness 64 iii. Property and the Cult of Liberty 69 4. The Revolution 78 i. A Radical Script for a Preservationist Struggle 78 ii. The Universalization of the Language of Freedom 87 iii. Delegitimizing Pedigreed Advantage 98 iv. Inventing Patriotic Traditions 105 v. Constituting the People 114 vi. Equality as the Future of America 126 5. The Sway of Symbolic Power 132 i. Captains of the Ship of Progress 132 ii. The Meaning of Representation 142 iii. Claims of Liberty Claim Their Authors 152 viii contents 6. Usurpers and Dupes: The Backlash 163 i. Revolutionary Vocabulary against Revolutionary Government 163 ii. Party Struggles and the Expansion of Liberty 178 iii. The Ruling Class: A Crisis of Identity 192 iv. The Useful Mob 204 v. A People’s Aristocracy 214 Conclusion: Liberty and the Web of Culture 223 Notes 239 Bibliography 263 Index 281 ...