A Better Guide Than Reason: Federalists and Anti-Federalists (Library of Conservative Thought) (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers (January 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560001313
• ISBN-13: 978-1560001317
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,576,329 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, September 19, 2006

By	Coolidge (N.J.) - See all my reviews

Bradford feels that the leading men of the revolutionary period such as the under appreciated John Dickinson and Patrick Henry knew experience and the inherited common law were a better guide to lead them than reason or abstract philosophy. The Revolution was not a revolution but one avoided and not to be compared to the radical French one. The inherent rights of self-preservation and self govermnent are what motivated the colonists, not some abstract liberty or Natural Law. They looked towards the "rights of Englishmen", constitutional order, and common law passed down through the ages; they made a revolution "not to create but to protect", protect what had always been theirs as free British subjects. The Declaration of Independence is not some radical document if it is properly taken in the context of 18th century America and how they saw what they were doing. The so called "revolution" was indeed the proper response to tyranny and the duty and obligation as English Colonial subjects- their given right. The Colonials wanted to preserve for themselves and posterity self-government and ordered liberty. The Declaration is not an egalitarian, democratic document that later Americans, Lincoln included, would try to make it out to be. The founders did not want to destroy society and make it new, they wanted continuity.
I agree with Bradford's nomocratic(as opposed to teleocratic) view of the Constitution in "Original Intentions" and the way he views Lincoln's use or rather misuse of the Declaration (by giving that document authority over the Constitution). One area that I do not agree with Bradford however, is in his overall tone and harshness regarding Lincoln. Although making well reasoned arguments, he gives an impression of Lincoln being "lawless" which I think is unwarranted. Back on topic- this is an excellent little book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Received wisdom over ideology, December 27, 2008

By	Jason Carter "Retired Navy officer, bibliophi... (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the spirit of Russell Kirk, who self-consciously valued tradition, prescription, and religion over the abstractions of political theories (or "ideology"), Bradford here presents a collection of essays in the same vein. Bradford was chosen by Ronald Reagan as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. His appointment was intensely opposed by the neo-conservatives due to his critical writings on Lincoln and his support for George Wallace's presidential run. Hopefully the author's being viewed by the neo-cons as dangerous is enough to make you interested in his writings!

"They never will love where they ought to love who do not hate where they ought to hate," said Edmund Burke. Bradford knows where to hate. First, he hates equality (at least its use as a political axiom, where it is essentially meaningless), and has a fine essay in this collection on "The Heresy of Equality." He also detested Lincoln (at least until he apparently softened somewhat in his final year of life), and provides an essay on "Lincoln, the Declaration, and Secular Puritanism: A Rhetoric for Continuing Revolution."

Bradford also loves. He loves liberty and those who seek to defend it. In this volume you will find sympathetic treatments of John Dickinson, Patrick Henry, and William Henry Drayton, as well as a defense of the secession of 1861.

For lovers of liberty, this book is highly recommended.

7 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars bradford is great, February 26, 2000

By	stephen a nowicki - See all my reviews

The previous review was written by a sorry excuse for a reviewer