Democracy, Revolution, and Monarchism in Early American LiteraturePaul Downes combines literary criticism and political history in order to explore responses to the rejection of monarchism in the American revolutionary era. Downes' analysis considers the Declaration of Independence, Franklin's autobiography, Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer and the works of America's first significant literary figures including Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper. He claims that the post-revolutionary American state and the new democratic citizen inherited some of the complex features of absolute monarchy, even as they were strenuously trying to assert their difference from it. In chapters that consider the revolution's mock execution of George III, the Elizabethan notion of the 'king's two bodies' and the political significance of the secret ballot, Downes points to the traces of monarchical political structures within the practices and discourses of early American democracy. This is an ambitious study of an important theme in early American culture and society. |
From inside the book
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Page 2
... of day , grounded itself in the common , the natural , and the ordinary . The thirteen governments of the newly united states , وو explained John Adams in 1787 , were founded " 2 Democracy , revolution , and monarchism.
... of day , grounded itself in the common , the natural , and the ordinary . The thirteen governments of the newly united states , وو explained John Adams in 1787 , were founded " 2 Democracy , revolution , and monarchism.
Page 3
... natural , is pitted against the “ monkish " gibberish of the high priests of theory . I will return to the ques- tion of how a certain post - modern discourse might be said to displace - the charisma of monarchic mystique , but for now ...
... natural , is pitted against the “ monkish " gibberish of the high priests of theory . I will return to the ques- tion of how a certain post - modern discourse might be said to displace - the charisma of monarchic mystique , but for now ...
Page 4
... nature's God and God's nature ; individ- ual inalienable rights etc. ) must be examined with attention to the perfor- mative disruption of their cognitive force . Literary theory refuses to take the revolution's version of its world at ...
... nature's God and God's nature ; individ- ual inalienable rights etc. ) must be examined with attention to the perfor- mative disruption of their cognitive force . Literary theory refuses to take the revolution's version of its world at ...
Page 14
... nature and of nature's god entitle them ... " What " becomes necessary " ? A peo- ple's dissolution of political bands ? This people's dissolution of political bands ? This revolution ? All of the above , perhaps , and yet what we hear ...
... nature and of nature's god entitle them ... " What " becomes necessary " ? A peo- ple's dissolution of political bands ? This people's dissolution of political bands ? This revolution ? All of the above , perhaps , and yet what we hear ...
Page 15
... nature " and of “ nature's god ” – that " entitle " and " impel " the people of the United States . Indeed , we might even consider the possibility that these agents ( God , nature , and the laws of reason , with all their impersonal ...
... nature " and of “ nature's god ” – that " entitle " and " impel " the people of the United States . Indeed , we might even consider the possibility that these agents ( God , nature , and the laws of reason , with all their impersonal ...
Contents
1 | |
reading the mock executions of 1776 | 31 |
CHAPTER 2 Crèvecoeurs revolutionary loyalism | 58 |
the memoirs of Stephen Burroughs and Benjamin Franklin | 84 |
Brockden Browns secrets | 112 |
Irving and the gender of democracy | 144 |
the revolutions last word | 165 |
Notes | 182 |
Bibliography | 223 |
Index | 237 |
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Democracy, Revolution, and Monarchism in Early American Literature Paul Downes No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
American Revolution anonymous anxiety authority body politic Brockden Brown's C. L. R. James calls Carwin celebrated chapter character Charles Brockden Brown citizen claim colonies concealment Constitution convention Cooper's Crèvecoeur's culture Dame Van Winkle Declaration of Independence democracy democratic subject discourse effigies election Emerson England fantasy father Federalist Papers figure Fliegelman force founding franchise Franklin Freneau George Harvey Birch ideology Indian individual Irving's James James Fenimore Cooper James Madison Jefferson Jersey John Adams John de Crèvecoeur justice king king's Kirvan Letters literary Ludloe's Madison Memoirs monarchism monarchophobia nation Native American nature novel Paine Paine's patriotic person political subjectivity post-revolutionary quoted radical relationship representation representative republic republican resistance revolution's revolutionary rhetorical Rip Van Winkle Rip's sacrifice secrecy sense sovereign speech spell Stephen Burroughs story structure suggests temporal Thomas Paine United ventriloquism violence voters voting Warner Washington women words writes wrote