Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Earliness of the Early Republic 2. The Dialectic of Liberty 3. The Commonalities of Common Sense 4. Becoming American 5. The Forgotten Publius 6. Finding Rome in America 7. Gabriel's Rebellion 8. Jefferson at Monticello 9. Charity in the City of Brotherly Love 10. The Last Early Republican Text Epilogue Notes Index
Robert A. Ferguson is George Edward Woodberry Professor in Law, Literature, and Criticism at Columbia University.
These fine essays analyze U.S. texts from the 1760s through the
1820s so as to illustrate the forms of expression, assumptions,
conflicts, and ambivalences of the era. The texts include a
remarkably broad spectrum, from the canonical Common Sense
through slave narratives, notable court cases, popular novels, and
the architecture of Monticello to The Last of the Mohicans.
Two common themes linking the essays are that the language 'was
richer and more nuanced than their inheritors' understood, and that
the current generation could benefit from careful reconsideration
of those complexities that are the foundation of American life.
Useful insights abound. -- R. P. Gildrie * Choice *
[Reading the Early Republic is best described as a cohesive
collection of discrete essays designed to show that very close
reading of selected texts and episodes can shed new light on our
understanding of the Revolutionary era broadly conceived...It is
written with remarkable clarity and moves along at a varied pace
that never fails to engage us. Reading the Early Republic is
an innovative and distinguished contribution that enriches our
understanding of the period. -- Michael Kammen * Law and History
Review *
Ferguson aspires to give us a knowledge of the past that remembers
the intrinsic difference of its vitality, yet does not leave us to
the crises of our moment without a sense of "answering relevance."
-- Elisa Tamarkin * Early American Literature *
Reading the Early Republic revisits some of the most
emblematic words and texts of that period and brings to the fore
some forgotten individuals and documents to produce a thoroughgoing
historical analysis of the new nation. In the process, Ferguson
develops a portrayal of the period that serves as a powerful
corrective to recent histories that emphasize national unity and
ideological familiarity...Ferguson has also written a book with a
surprising degree of relevance, revealing his intentions to speak
to an audience outside academia. -- Carolyn Eastman * New England
Quarterly *
A major contribution to literary and intellectual history,
Reading the Early Republic also serves as a brilliant and
formidable rebuttal to those policy makers, judges, and lawyers who
are currently raiding the early Republic in the hope of settling
current debates by recovering the original meanings of founding
texts...Reading the Early Republic demonstrates why the
history of political writing and rhetoric constitutes an important
and distinct discipline from the history of political thought. --
Eric Slauter * William and Mary Quarterly *
Rejecting what he regards as over-simplified interpretations of the
period's literary output, Ferguson sets out to recover the variety
of meanings that these texts conveyed to contemporaries. Drawing on
a range of works, from those that have become canonical to those
that have been marginalized, he finds that early republican
writings were significantly more nuanced, complex and volatile than
even the most sensitive critics have acknowledged. Ferguson
proceeds to offer fresh readings of several different kinds of
sources, including novels, pamphlets, journals, legal records, and
slave narratives...Reading the Early Republic is
wide-ranging and insightful. Opening out the texts in this way adds
a new dimension to our understanding of the essential fluidity,
volatility and contested quality of the early republic. -- Keith
Mason * History *
![]() |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
![]() |