Bryan-Paul Frost - History of American Political Thought, Second Edition

Advanced Praise for the Second Edition

History of American Political Thought is a feast for the mind, a first-rate collection of essays by first-rate scholars. Reaching wide and deep, it brims with insights about the philosophers, poets, novelists. activists, jurists, and political leaders who contributed to the intellectual life of this nation. Rigorous yet readable, this book is bound to become a standard reference about the ideas that undergird American politics. It will be a valuable resource for students and scholars, indeed for anyone with a serious interest in serious political questions. John J. Pitney, Jr., Claremont McKenna College

This comprehensively encyclopedic set of lively and insightful essays, having become a minor classic over the past fifteen years, is here updated and enlarged in ways that make it an even more essential supplement to all teaching and study of the whole of American political thought. Thomas L. Pangle, University of Texas at Austin

This excellent collection has always been the most useful and reliable guide to American political thinkers. Its impressive range has been extended further with new entries on Walt Whitman, LBJ, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. In addition, every chapter of the original edition whose author is still alive has been revised and updated, though all of high quality to begin with. The volume has thus succeeded admirably at rendering its first edition obsolete. What were the visions of America that informed not only the Washingtons and Lincolns but the Elizabeth Cady Stantons and William Graham Sumners? Now youll know. Clifford Orwin, University of Toronto

Bryan-Paul Frost and Jeffrey Sikkenga are to be congratulated for putting together the most thoughtful, comprehensive, and accessible collection on American political thought ever assembled. This volume is a significant improvement over an already wonderful first edition. One learns what the most serious and gifted American founders, statesmen, writers, jurists, diplomats, publicists, and citizens have thought about what it means to be an American. Here one confronts unity and diversity and the great debates about liberty and equality, religion and politics, the role of the courts, as well as Americas role in the world. A feast for reflective citizens and inquiring scholars alike. Daniel J. Mahoney, Assumption College

This multi-authored volume, edited by Frost and Sikkenga, is the best fit for how I prefer to approach the study of American political thought in an academic course. In their essays, each author expounds the philosophical orientations and elucidates the main tenets of their notable subject with thoroughly proficient analyses that read much like a high quality narrative. The reader benefits by being shown the important connections between the political ideas of numerous significant figures and the various isms that cross the spectrum of political ideology. This new edition gives added value by including extra chapters on the political philosophy of presidents Lyndon Baines Johnson, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama. Troy Goodale, Tusculum University

Featuring erudite essays of the highest order, this superb collection highlights the richness of the American political tradition, with leading scholars engaging Americas greatest and most important thinkers, jurists, and statesmen. Frosts and Sikkengas History of American Political Thought is by far the best and most comprehensive volume of its kind, and its updated second edition will no doubt continue to be an essential resource for students and researchers. Patrick Cain, Lakehead University

History of American Political Thought

Second Edition

Edited by Bryan-Paul Frost and Jeffrey Sikkenga

LEXINGTON BOOKS

Lanham Boulder New York London

Published by Lexington Books

An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

www.rowman.com

6 Tinworth Street, London SE11 5AL, United Kingdom

Copyright 2019 The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Frost, Bryan-Paul, 1961- editor. | Sikkenga, Jeffrey, 1967- editor.

Title: History of American political thought / edited by Bryan-Paul Frost and

Jeffrey Sikkenga.

Description: Second edition. | Lanham, Maryland : Lexington Books, 2019. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018050954| ISBN 9781498558693 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN

9781498558716 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781498558709 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: Political scienceUnited StatesHistory.

Classification: LCC JA84 .U5 H57 2019 | DDC 320.0973--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018050954

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

To our teachers,

and especially:

David Bolotin

James Ceaser

Clifford Orwin

Thomas L. Pangle

Preface and Acknowledgments to the Second Edition

We are publishing a revised second edition for several reasons. First, a new edition gives the original authors the opportunity to revise their interpretations in light of any new scholarship, arguments, or insights that have developed in the last fifteen years. Second, a new edition allows for the addition of several important historical figures who were omitted from the first edition (Walt Whitman, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Ronald Reagan) or contemporary figures who were not prominent in public life when the first edition was published (Barack Obama). We trust that these revisions and additions will strengthen the breadth and depth of the collection. Finally, we hope that a new edition will create an opportunity to bring these essays to another generation of students, scholars, and citizens who want to understand more fully the meaning of America.

It should be noted that since the publication of the first edition, several contributors have passed away: Jean Bethke Elshtain (d. 2013), Peter Augustine Lawler (d. 2017), James McClellan (d. 2005), Peter W. Schramm (d. 2015), and Delba Winthrop (d. 2006). Their essays have been republished without revision in memoriam.

For this second edition, Bryan-Paul Frost wishes to thank Joseph C. Parry, senior acquisitions editor, and Madhu Koduvalli, assistant acquisitions editor, at Lexington Books for their encouragement to proceed with a second edition of the book and for their work in helping to convert all the previous files from the first edition into current formats. In addition, Frost would like to thank the Elias Bo Ackal, Jr./BORSF Endowed Professorship in Political Science and the Anthony Moroux I/BORSF Memorial Endowed Professorship in Political Science (both at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) for their generous financial support over the years for research and scholarship. Jeffrey Sikkenga would like to thank Ashland University for a senior study leave during which the book was completed. Thanks also to the Charles Koch Foundation for its financial support of the study leave, to Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution, and to the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University for its support, warm welcome, and provision of the William E. Simon Distinguished Visiting Professorship during 2018. Finally, special thanks to the staff, leadership, and supporters of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs for their great friendship and generosity over many years, including this past year. Friends like these make projects like this possible.