Overview

Arguments over what democracy actually meant in practice and how it should be implemented raged throughout the early American republic. As Andrew Shankman shows, nowhere were those ideas more intensely contested or more representative of the national debate than in Pennsylvania, where the state's Jeffersonians dominated the day. Pennsylvania Jeffersonians were the first American citizens to attempt to translate idealized speculations about democracy into a workable system of politics and governance. In doing so, they revealed key assumptions that united other national citizens regarding democracy and the conditions necessary for its survival. In particular, they assumed that democracy required economic autonomy and a strong measure of economic as well as political equality among citizens. This strong egalitarian theme was, however, challenged by Pennsylvania's precociously capitalistic economy and the nation's dynamic economic development in general, forcing the Jeffersonians to confront the reality that economic and social equality would have to take a back seat to free market forces. Seeking democracy became a debate about the desirability of capitalism and the precise relations

Full Product Details

Author:   Andrew Shankman
Publisher:   University Press of Kansas
Imprint:   University Press of Kansas
Dimensions:   Width: 16.10cm , Height: 2.70cm , Length: 23.70cm
Weight:   0.603kg
ISBN:  

9780700613045

ISBN 10:   0700613048
Pages:   312
Publication Date:   31 March 2004
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

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Reviews

A superb book that sheds fresh and provocative light on a subject of central concern to historians of the early national United States.

A powerful reminder that, even if political democracy and free market capitalism emerged contemporaneously, their relationship has often been as contested as it has been consensual. Journal of American History

A powerful reminder that, even if political democracy and free market capitalism emerged contemporaneously, their relationship has often been as contested as it has been consensual. --<i><b>Journal of American History</i></b>

An important new study. -- American Historical Review

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