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American History
The Roots of American Order
Submitted by Admin on Thu, 2006-11-16 07:09.America's rich and vibrant history, and her legacy of liberty, exists in continuity with her European past. Historian Clarence Carson made this astute observation,
Americans did not cast themselves off from their past experience, from ideas and practices of long standing, or from older traditions and institutions. In their building they relied extensively upon ancient and modern history and that which had come to them through the ages. What separates this as an epic from abortive revolutions is that these men brought to a fertile junction their heritage—which contained several great streams, namely, the Classical, the Christian, and the English—their experience, and contemporary ideas. The Founders stood on the shoulders of giants, thought it sometimes requires giants also to attain such heights. 1
Therefore, America's remarkable success as a nation, and an experiment in ordered liberty owes to the fertile ground and soil her roots were planted in. In the establishment of the nation, and securing her independence from Great Britain, America did not make a clean break with the past—but stood in continuity with the Anglo-American common law tradition and a broader cultural inheritance from Europe.
In his perennial classic, the Roots of American Order, Russell Kirk elucidated on the roots of order in the United States:
Although the tree of American order has grown in height and breadth during the past two hundred years, it could not have flourished so if those roots had been unhealthy. Those roots go deep, but they require watering from time to time. Whatever the failings of America [presently], the American order has been conspicious success in the perspective of human history. Under God, a large measure of justice has been achieved; the state is strong and energetic; and a sense of community endures... [T]he history of most societies is a record of painful striving, brief success (if success at all), and then decay and ruin. No man can know the future, but most Americans believe that their order will continue to 'bring out in this life the dialectic union of authority and liberty.' That will be true so long as the roots of order have proliferating life in the them. 2
Historically, Americans have not countenanced collectivism to the degree that their modern European counterparts have. Moreover, it may be said that the American mind is fundamentally antithetical to collectivism of all stripes — in spite of the New Deal and Great Society legacies. Historian Mark Puls notes,
The theme of individual liberty became central to the American psyche, manifested in Jefferson's notion of the self-reliant farmer, and carried westward in the rugged individualism of the frontiersman and pioneers. It became the underlying theme of the country's seminal literature, reflected in the works of Washington Irving, Herman Melville, James Fennimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, William James, and countless other writers. 3
- The Rebirth of Liberty: The Founding of the American Republic 1760-1800, (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1973), p. 21.
- Kirk, Russell, The Roots of American Order, (Bryn Mawr, PA: ISI Books, 1974)
- Puls, Mark, Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution, (New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan), p. 236
Wolf of the Deep: Raphael Semmes and the Notorious Confederate Raider CSS Alabama
Submitted by Cato the Younger on Mon, 2008-05-19 19:44.Wolf of the Deep: Raphael Semmes and the Notorious Confederate Raider CSS Alabama by Stephen Fox. Hardcover: 336 pages. (New York, NY: Knopf, 2007.) Amazon Price: $17.13.
Wolf of the Deep: Raphael Semmes and the Notorious Confederate Raider CSS Alabama is a fluid and captivating tale of the Confederate Raider helmed by the Confederate Admiral Raphael Semmes. This book, in particular, focuses on his almost two-year stint as captain of the infamous Confederate privateer, the Alabama.
Anti-Federalists, The
Submitted by Cato the Younger on Sun, 2006-12-10 21:38.The Anti-Federalists
"The anti-federalists," notes Ralph Ketcham in the introduction to a popular edition of their writings:
[Looked] to the Classical idealization of the small, pastoral republic where virtuous, self-reliant citizens managed their own affairs and shunned the power and glory of empire. To them, the victory in the American Revolution meant not so much the big chance to become a wealthy world power, but rather the opportunity to achieve a geniunely republican polity, far from the greed, lust for power, and tyranny that had generally characterized human society. 1
In many ways, the group has been misnamed. After all, federalism refers to the system of decentralized government. As Mel Bradford notes, in the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry, the leader of the Anti-Federalists "conjured up an image of the Constitution as it might become [and] much of his prophecy has been confirmed." 2
- Francis, Samuel, "Nationalism, Old and New," The Paleoconservatives. Joseph Scotchie, ed. (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1999. p. 190.
- Bradford, M.E. "Patrick Henry: The Trumpet Voice of Freedom," in Against the Barbarians and Other Reflections on Familiar Themes (Columbia: Univ. of Missouri Press, 1992), 97, 84.
From Union to Empire: Essays in the Jeffersonian Tradition
Submitted by Cato the Younger on Mon, 2006-12-04 00:29.From Union to Empire: Essays in the Jeffersonian Tradition by Clyde Wilson. Hardcover: 304 pages. (Columbia, SC: Foundation for American Education, 2003), Amazon.com $24.95.
Review by Ryan Setliff
From Union to Empire: Essays in the Jeffersonian Tradition is an anthology of essays and writings by historian Clyde Wilson. As Joseph Stromberg writes in the introduction, "Dr. Clyde Wilson is a Christian, a Southerner, an American, an historian and a conservative. For over three decades he has worked on the definitive edition of the Papers of John C. Calhoun, has written on Calhoun and published a collection of Calhoun's most important writings." Wilson is a luminary figure amongst southern conservatives in my humble opinion, and yet modest about his own accomplishments. He has also written a splendid biographical history of General James Johnston Pettigrew and assembled an anthology of essays in tribute to the late Mel Bradford. As Stromberg opines, "His writings—published in Modern Age, Chronicles, Telos, and many other forums—shows Professor Wilson off as the kind of conservative who is a stalwart defender of federalism and republicanism, and the liberties associated with them. Such conservatives are few and far between these days."
The Real Henry Clay: The Corrupt American Architect of Mercantilism and Protectionism
Submitted by Cato the Younger on Wed, 2006-11-22 17:11.The Real Henry Clay: The Corrupt American Architect of Mercantilism and Protectionism
Today in history marks the two hundred and twenty-ninth anniversary of Henry Clay’s birthday. Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia on April 12, 1777. Clay was a founder and key leader of the Whigs and the National Republican Party in the United States, though he got his start in politics as a Democrat. Clay was admitted to the bar in 1797 and commenced practice in Lexington, Kentucky. He rose to become a prominent U.S. Senator for Kentucky by the 1830s, and he gained considerable prestige in the eyes of many historians for his role in the Missouri Compromise of 1820 as a Congressman. According to Carl Schurz, a German émigré, professed national revolutionist, and a Union general, Clay was said to be a political success because:
