American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence [Paperback]

Pauline Maier (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 26, 1998

Pauline Maier shows us the Declaration as both the defining statement of our national identity and the moral standard by which we live as a nation. It is truly "American Scripture," and Maier tells us how it came to be -- from the Declaration's birth in the hard and tortuous struggle by which Americans arrived at Independence to the ways in which, in the nineteenth century, the document itself became sanctified.

Maier describes the transformation of the Second Continental Congress into a national government, unlike anything that preceded or followed it, and with more authority than the colonists would ever have conceded to the British Parliament; the great difficulty in making the decision for Independence; the influence of Paine's Common Sense, which shifted the terms of debate; and the political maneuvers that allowed Congress to make the momentous decision.

In Maier's hands, the Declaration of Independence is brought close to us. She lets us hear the voice of the people as revealed in the other "declarations" of 1776: the local resolutions -- most of which have gone unnoticed over the past two centuries -- that explained, advocated, and justified Independence and undergirded Congress's work. Detective-like, she discloses the origins of key ideas and phrases in the Declaration and unravels the complex story of its drafting and of the group-editing job which angered Thomas Jefferson.

Maier also reveals what happened to the Declaration after the signing and celebration: how it was largely forgotten and then revived to buttress political arguments of the nineteenth century; and, most important, how Abraham Lincoln ensured its persistence as a living force in American society. Finally, she shows how by the very act of venerating the Declaration as we do -- by holding it as sacrosanct, akin to holy writ -- we may actually be betraying its purpose and its power.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is a well-written, well-researched, entertaining account of the creation of the United States' Declaration of Independence as well as an analysis of how the declaration has been enshrined as something of a sacred document (a place it did not always hold). Pauline Maier, a history professor at MIT, will no doubt surprise many readers with detective work demonstrating that Jefferson's Declaration of Independence was actually preceded by many local declarations, which have been generally overlooked by historians but which were published throughout the colonies and were well known in their day. American Scripture holds many surprises as it details Jefferson's drafting of the document, the editing process, and the varying regard with which the Declaration of Independence has been held in the past two centuries. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Maier (American history, MIT; From Resistance to Revolution, LJ 7/72) sets the stage for her fascinating history of the Declaration of Independence with a concise and well-written introduction into the political background of the American Revolution. She provides the context for the document within the British tradition of declarations, addresses, and petitions and relates it to the many local and state declarations that aimed to mobilize support for independence. The thrust of her work is a careful examination of the drafting of the document by Jefferson and the Congressional committee; she then describes how Congress edited it into its final form. The latter third of the book is dedicated to the ways in which the Declaration has been redefined and used by different groups of Americans. Combining meticulous scholarship with clear prose, Maier tells a compelling story that will succeed in winning her a general audience. Highly recommended.
-?David B. Mattern, Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books Ed edition (May 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679779086
• ISBN-13: 978-0679779087
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Puts the Declaration in historical context September 2, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This interesting book demythologizes the creation of the Declaration by showing its relation to the times. Rather than being the brilliant and idiosyncratic creation of a single man (Thomas Jefferson), the Declaration is closely related to many other contemporary documents (including many other declarations of independence in the colonies). As Maier shows, its style and form also are derived from the historical conventions of written documents in Britain, the significance of such documents and their use to explain or justify events. Jefferson drafted the document but the final version is the product of a collective effort. Maier focuses on the historical context rather than on the abstract intellectual content of the Declaration considered in isolation. The book is well-written and I found it very interesting and informative. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Declaration or in this period of American history.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars An important work, but not for everyone July 1, 2002

By Mark D. Smith

Format:Paperback

American Scripture takes a detailed look at the construction of the Declaration of Independence. It compares/constrasts this important document with other documents (state declarations,etc.) and other works/writings of the timeperiod in order to see how Jefferson (primarily) constructed the declaration. It also looks at the editing process done by the 2nd Continental Congress. Finally it looks at how the document came to be revered and how it is/has been used for politcal purposes (slavery,etc...)
Overall, it is an interesting read that sometimes gets bogged down in details and minor differences between the end product and sources used possibly by Jefferson. I would only recommend it for those that want to expand upon their background knowledge of the formulation of the Declaration of Independence.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An informed iconoclastic view of American Independence September 1, 2003

By Govindan Nair

Format:Paperback

MIT historian Pauline Maier has written a richly documented and highly informative analysis of a document which is widely regarded as the symbolic expression of the birth of American nationhood -- the Declaration of Independence. This book shatters well established myths regarding the nature and authorship of this key document in the history of the United States, and cautions readers against the misrepresentations of this history in contemporary texts and monuments.

A major thrust of the book is its analysis and comparison of "declarations of independence" adopted by various localities and states among the American colonies prior to the adoption of the July 4 1776 document by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The author documents the popular origins of the American Revolution and its roots in older English traditions of bringing royal regimes to an end. Noting that at least ninety, possibly more, such local "declarations" were adopted by various communities in colonial America, during 1775 and 1776, with several examples reproduced in an appendix, the author points to similarities in drafting with English documents which had sought to explain and justify why Englishmen brought the rule by various English kings to an end on five occasions between 1327 and 1485, and then twice again in the seventeenth century. Paradoxically, it was this English tradition of declarations which inspired the drafting of similar declarations among the American colonies as they grew disenchanted with not only British Parliament, but also King George III, and even the British people. This common lineage of documentary traditiion from Britain fostering a sense of unity and bolster the common resolve for independence among the North American colonies which previously had little connection with each other than through the mother country across the Atlantic.

But the author also underscores the "peculiar American twist" in these documents adopted by local communities, especially as she seeks to answer "why ordinary people in towns and counties were involved at all in deciding the fate of the British Empire." She notes that English history lacked a tradition of efforts to win broad-based support for change of regime, which the Continental Congress felt was needed. Nowhere in America did there exist an institution like Parliament in Britain which could claim to speak for the "whole community." Individual states and communities differed in how they came to adopt instructions on Independence which eventually guided voting in the Continental Congress. "On the high end of the scale were the votes of Massachusetts town meetings and of James City County, Virginia, where a majority of resident freeholders signed the instructions on Independence; on the other were places like Talbot County, Maryland, whose instructions came from a group that openly described itself as 'part of the freemen of the said County.' Some instructions were the work of elected committees that felt free to speak for its constituents."

The other major thrust of the book is on Jefferson�s exact role in drafting and contributing to the final document adopted in Philadelphia. The author meticulously examines these points based on her interpretation of available evidence. Later in the book, she demonstrates how Jefferson's words were misrepresented in the Jefferson Memorial built in Washington DC by additions and omissions which fail to correctly ascribe authorship to others such as Richard Henry Lee or which avoid the references to overthrowing government. Why the author emphasizes these points becomes clear when she asserts that the Declaration of Independence was "an avowal of revolution" whose vitality "rests upon the readiness of the people and their leaders to discuss its implications and to make the crooked ways straight, not in the mummified paper curiosities lying in state at the Archives." This epilogue brings us back full circle to the introduction of the book in which the author is implicitly contemptuous of what she documents as a disproportionately costly and tedious attempt to preserve the original document.

Pauline Maier suggests that her account of the Declaration of Independence puts her somewhat at odds with other historians and takes issues with what she considers to be a number of well established myths and views. She affirms vigorous "dissent from any suggestion that Jefferson was alone responsible" for this document. Furthermore, by seeking to document the impact of "the grubby world of eighteenth century American politics" in shaping this document, she also distances her position from other academics whom she views as being "more comfortable in the transatlantic world of ideas" and who place much more weight in the treatises of European writers as an influence on the Declaration of Independence. The author asserts that "as a statement of political philosophy, the Declaration was therefore purposely unexceptional in 1776" -- based on her careful documentation of the rich philosophical traditions and literary lineage which were its antecedents. She unabashedly reminds readers that she once nominated Thomas Jefferson the "most overrated person in American history", adding the following: "It does strike me as odd, however, that historians' obsession with Jefferson continues unabated at a time when studying the history of 'great white men' has become unfashionable in the profession."

The book presents other interesting historical insights into this period, outside of its two main thrusts described above. The British technique of "divide and conquer" which would become well tried and tested elsewhere in the growing Empire, including India, was also applied in the American colonies, as evident in a purportedly conciliatory proposal made by British Minister Lord North in response to one of the spirited appeals written by Thomas Jefferson to the British King in 1774. Under Lord North's proposal, the British Parliament would desist from taxing any American colony which raised sufficient permanent funds for its own defense and support of civil government. According to Pauline Maier, American colonists "saw the proposal as an attempt to divide the colonies without conceding that Parliament had no right to tax Americans."

On the whole, whatever your political persuasion and interpretation of the Declaration of Independence, you are likely to find this a lively book with well argued and documented historical analysis. The appendices and bibliography are also an important resource for the serious reader of American history.