The heart of the Declaration : the founders' case for an activist government / Steve Pincus.
2016
KF4506 .P56 2016 (Mapit)
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Title
The heart of the Declaration : the founders' case for an activist government / Steve Pincus.
Imprint
New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2016]
Copyright
©2016.
Description
ix, 207 pages ; 22 cm.
Series
Lewis Walpole series in eighteenth-century culture and history.
Formatted Contents Note
Mount Vernon : patriot estate
Patriots and the imperial crisis of the 1760s
Making a patriot government.
Patriots and the imperial crisis of the 1760s
Making a patriot government.
Summary
"From one election cycle to the next, a defining question continues to divide the country's political parties: should the government play a major or a minor role in the lives of American citizens? The Declaration of Independence has long been invoked as a philosophical treatise in favor of limited government. Yet the bulk of the document is a discussion of policy, in which the founders outlined the failures of the British imperial government. Above all, they declared, the British state since 1760 had done too little to promote the prosperity of its American subjects. Looking beyond the Declaration's frequently cited opening paragraphs, Steve Pincus reveals how the document is actually a blueprint for a government with extensive powers to promote and protect the people's welfare. By examining the Declaration in the context of British imperial debates, Pincus offers a nuanced portrait of the Founders' intentions with profound political implications for today"--Book jacket.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 153-198) and index.
Location
STA
Call Number
KF4506 .P56 2016
Language
English
ISBN
9780300216189
0300216181
0300216181
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