Crucible of American Democracy: The Struggle to Fuse Egalitarianism and Capitalism in Jeffersonian Pennsylvania (American Political Thought) [Hardcover]

Andrew Shankman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2004 | Series: American Political Thought

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 between majority rule and the pursuit and protection of individual rights and interests. From this struggle to fuse egalitarianism and free enterprise in Pennsylvania emerged most subsequent mainstream beliefs concerning the respective roles of democracy and capitalism in American society. In fact, it did much to shape the boundaries of permissible thought in the Jacksonian era concerning political economy and the extent of popular democratic power.

Shankman's illuminating exploration of the Pennsylvania experience reveals how democracy arose in America, how it came to accommodate capitalism, and at the same time forced egalitarian assumptions and dreams to the margins of society. A resonant work of intellectual and political history, his study also mirrors the aspirations, fears, hatreds, dreams, generous impulses, noble strivings, selfish cant, and enormous capacity to imagine of those who first tried to translate the blueprint for democracy into a tested foundation for the nation's future.

This book is part of the American Political Thought series.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A valuable contribution to the literature on the early republic and a timely intervention in our larger, ongoing discussion of the limits and possibilities of American democracy.--Peter S. Onuf, author of Jefferson's Empire: The Language of American Nationhood

Shankman has brought the rambunctious politics of Pennsylvania under close examination, revealing the inherent tension in the commingled affirmations of democracy and capitalism in the Early Republic.--Joyce Appleby, author of Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of Americans

A superb book that sheds fresh and provocative light on a subject of central concern to historians of the early national United States.--Drew R. McCoy, author of The Elusive Republic: Political Economy in Jeffersonian America

About the Author

Andrew Shankman is assistant professor of history at Northeastern Illinois University of Chicago.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700613048
• ISBN-13: 978-0700613045
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,310,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How what is came to be., April 6, 2005

By 

greg taylor (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crucible of American Democracy: The Struggle to Fuse Egalitarianism and Capitalism in Jeffersonian Pennsylvania (American Political Thought) (Hardcover)

This book is a well-focused incursion into several ongoing debates in early American historiography. Anyone who has read academic history about that period in the last thirty years should be aware of the republicanism-liberalism debates as well as the arguments surrounding the development of capitalism in the early republic.
Shankman's book focuses on Pennsylvania politics during the years of the Jefferson and Madison administrations as well as the decades immediately prior and after. Pennsylvania had the most advanced and diversified economy of any of the states. For that reason, Shankman believes that the arguments among the various factions of the Jeffersonian party ended up being of great consequence. Much of the rest of the country followed Pennsylvania's lead and the broad consensus that came out of Pennsylvania in regards to the meaning of democracy and the state's role in economic development became the national consensus for the first half of the nineteenth century.
Shankman's first chapter is a superb exposition of the development of the opposition to Hamilton's economic policies and to Adam's assertion of national power in reaction to the Whiskey Rebellion and in the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. His exposition is concise and very even handed. On the state level, three strands of Jeffersonians emerged: the Quids, the Snyderites and the Philadelphia Democrats. Shankman delineates their differences and traces those to differences in their geographical origins and social status.
As long as they were a party of opposition these three variants were able to work together. With the election of Jefferson in 1800 their differences fractured their alliance.
This is the meaning of Shankman's title. The "crucible of conflict" is practically a mantra throughout this book. The idea is that the political debates and electoral conflicts in Pennsylvania drove the Jeffersonian's thought in directions it would not otherwise have gone. In the end, they had to either give up some of their cherished ideals or be brushed aside in state politics as irrelevant.
For example, one of the basic assumptions of the thought of the time was the idea of "the people". There was this sense that there was a common interest that united the whole populace. If no one started out from a position of too much relative wealth or political influence and if all were allowed to freely pursue their dreams then no major conflicts could develop among the people. If there was discord, it was due to distortions in the system, e.g., the judges manipulating the judicial system in defiance of the majority (the more things change...) The problem that the Jeffersonians had to face was "the creative endeavors of certain citizens were causing inequality to grow among citizens" (p.168).
The eventual solution to the issue of equality and economic development was to allow everyone an "untrammeled right to pursue his self-interest" (p.165).
This development is played out in Shankman's telling of the 1805 governor's race. This chapter is another incisive exposition. Shankman is an excellent writer.
One final but very important point. In his final chapter, Shankman positions his thesis in the ongoing debates that I mentioned at the beginning. He expounds on Merrill and Wilentz' point that it is easy to look back at this period and to see the development of a capitalist economy as being inevitable. They point out that while everyone back then embraced "commerce and commodity production" that that is not the same thing as capitalism (p.240). This is a common problem in historical writings. A wide open development is seen as having been almost inevitable. One of the real strengths of Shankman's book is that he reminds us just how wild and wooly in possibility this period was. Capitalism was not inevitable. We could have gone a different way. This is a superb telling of why we went the way we did.

1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, May 18, 2004

By 

Alex Rakochy (Evanston, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crucible of American Democracy: The Struggle to Fuse Egalitarianism and Capitalism in Jeffersonian Pennsylvania (American Political Thought) (Hardcover)

This is a great read. It is clear and concise, and offers a great look into the time period.