Myth of American Individualism
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A01=Barry Alan Shain
After Virtue
Alexis de Tocqueville
Americans
Antithesis
Apologetics
Author_Barry Alan Shain
Category=JBCC
Category=JPA
Category=JPFK
Category=NHK
Christianity
Civil liberties
Civil society
Classical republicanism
Common law
Communalism (political philosophy)
Consent of the governed
Constitution
Constitutionalism
Criticism
Democracy
Democracy in America
Doctrine
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Freedom of speech
Government
Historiography
Hostility
Ideology
Individualism
Institution
Intellectual
Isaiah Berlin
Liberalism
Libertine
Liberty
Montesquieu
Morality
Natural and legal rights
On Liberty
Philosopher
Philosophy
Political culture
Political freedom
Political philosophy
Political psychology
Political science
Politics
Popular sovereignty
Protestantism
Public figure
Public interest
Public philosophy
Public sphere
Puritans
Racism
Radicalism (historical)
Ratification
Representative democracy
Republic
Republicanism
Rights
Self-determination
Self-interest
Self-ownership
Selfishness
Sensibility
Slavery
Social theory
Sovereignty
The Spirit of the Laws
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Paine
Tories (British political party)
Two Concepts of Liberty
Writing
Product details
- ISBN 9780691029122
- Weight: 595g
- Dimensions: 197 x 254mm
- Publication Date: 25 Aug 1996
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Sharpening the debate over the values that formed America's founding political philosophy, Barry Alan Shain challenges us to reconsider what early Americans meant when they used such basic political concepts as the public good, liberty, and slavery. We have too readily assumed, he argues, that eighteenth-century Americans understood these and other terms in an individualistic manner. However, by exploring how these core elements of their political thought were employed in Revolutionary-era sermons, public documents, newspaper editorials, and political pamphlets, Shain reveals a very different understanding--one based on a reformed Protestant communalism. In this context, individual liberty was the freedom to order one's life in accord with the demanding ethical standards found in Scripture and confirmed by reason. This was in keeping with Americans' widespread acceptance of original sin and the related assumption that a well-lived life was only possible in a tightly knit, intrusive community made up of families, congregations, and local government bodies.
Shain concludes that Revolutionary-era Americans defended a Protestant communal vision of human flourishing that stands in stark opposition to contemporary liberal individualism. This overlooked component of the American political inheritance, he further suggests, demands examination because it alters the historical ground upon which contemporary political alternatives often seek legitimation, and it facilitates our understanding of much of American history and of the foundational language still used in authoritative political documents.
Barry Alan Shain is Associate Professor of Political Science at Colgate University.
