The myth of American individualism : the Protestant origins of American political thought
This work reconsiders what early Americans meant by such basic political concepts as the public good, liberty and slavery. It questions whether 18th-century Americans understood these terms in an individualistic manner, revealing an understanding based on reformed Protestant communalism.
Print Book, English, 1996
Repr. with corrections View all formats and editions
Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1996
History
xix, 394 pages ; 25 cm.
9780691029122, 0691029121
1057987685
AcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroduction3Pt. 1Standing: The Public Good, the Individual, and the CommunityCh. 1Three Discourses in Defense of the Public Good23Ch. 2A Sketch of 18th-Century American Communalism48Ch. 3Localism and the Myth of American Individualism84Ch. 4Three Leading Views of the Individual, Plus One116Pt. 2The Meaning of Liberty in the Revolutionary EraCh. 5A Delusive Similarity: (Ordered) Liberty and Freedom155Ch. 6Spiritual Liberty: The Quintessential Liberty193Ch. 7Corporate Liberty: Political and Civil241Ch. 8The Concept of Slavery: Liberty's Antithesis289Afterword320Bibliography329Index379
"First paperback printing with corrections."