A Non-Geeky Book Recommendation

America's Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It, C. Bradley Thompson

This phrase-by-phrase exegesis of the opening of the Declaration of Independence, is, in my humble opinion, one of the most essential reads of the year. Marshaling the letters, pamphlets, and speeches of the founding generation, Thompson politely but firmly counters the narrative of today's black-washers and establishes that, yes, our nation was rooted in liberty and individual rights (and not, as some would have it, in slavery/exploitation/ist and ism).

"America", in Thompson's (I think accurate) view, coalesced as a unique nation during the Imperial Crisis. Faced with the escalating intrusions of the British government, the Founders assimilated the free-floating ideas of the political Enlightenment and generated a philosophical synthesis that was genuinely revolutionary. What were the features of that synthesis? The belief that human nature is universal; that one's rights to life, liberty, and property are inherent in that nature and are not dependent on government largess or social status; and that government, though necessary, must be restrained to ensure maximum freedom for each human being.

So what are we to make of the existence of slavery in the early American republic? It was a lingering feature of the old order, not an essential component of the new. Thompson points out - again through documentary evidence - that the Founders (even the weakest and most hypocritical) were instantly aware of the contradiction that slavery represented and, in many cases, put the ball in motion to abolish it through local laws and voluntary manumissions. Even some places in the South participated in this outpouring of anti-slavery sentiment!

To put it another way: "American" ideas enabled the eventual end of legal slavery on our continent - even if, tragically, it took generations (thanks to the fallen and sinful nature of man) for the full consequences of those ideas to manifest.

More importantly: Thompson further reveals that mid-19th century slavery apologists were historicists who rejected the animating ideals of the Declaration. They did not believe, as the Founders did, that rights were natural, absolute, and inalienable. Thus, to argue that John C. Calhoun and the rest were in any way expressing a fundamentally "American" point of view is 180 degrees opposed to the truth. Said southern thinkers were aberrations influenced more by modern German philosophy than by Jefferson, Adams, et. al.

Much of the above might seem like old hat to those of us who happen to be enthusiastic students of the Revolutionary period - but even though I've done quite a bit of reading on the Founders, Thompson still taught me several new things. I didn't know, for example, about the Southern towns that manumitted their slaves - or that some towns in the New Hampshire interior didn't really consider themselves part of New Hampshire (heh). And yes: the chapter on the South's pro-slavery political thinkers was an absolute revelation.

"America" is not perfect, but as Thompson makes clear, it is good at its base. So don't listen to whatever oikophobic nonsense is being the peddled by the New York Times. Instead, buy this book and be proud.