Legal Commentary

Throes of Democracy

By Tom Kirkendall

One of the best books that I have read over the past several years is Walter A. McDougall's Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History 1585-1828 (HarperCollins 2004), the first book in McDougall's planned trilogy on American history (Gordon Wood's 2004 review of Freedom Just Around the Corner is here).

For anyone interested in the development of the market economy in American society, Freedom Just Around the Corner is essential reading. One of McDougall's central theses is that most of American society's dynamic successes (and also many of its failures) are attributable to the creative entrepreneurial spirit of its citizens. McDougall sums up his viewpoint in the preface to his widely-anticipated and just-published sequel to Freedom Just Around the Corner, Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era 1829-1877 (HarperCollins 2008):

I believe the United States (so far) is the greatest success story in history. I believe Americans (on balance) are experts at self-deception. And I believe the "creative corruption" born of their pretense goes far to explain their success. The upshot of is that American history is chock-full of cruelty and love, hypocrisy and faith, cowardice and courage, plus not small measure of tongue-in-cheek humor. American history is a tale of human nature set free. So how you, the reader, respond to this book will depend in good part on how you yourself (all pretense aside!) regard human nature.

McDougall has a wonderfully engaging style, which is reflected in the following Freedom Just Around the Corner excerpt about the tragic death of Alexander Hamilton in his duel with Vice-President, Aaron Burr. After the Federalist-but-statesman-first Hamilton undermined the rudderless Burr's Federalist campaign for New York Governor by supporting Burr's Republican opponent, McDougall described what happened next (pp, 395-96):

When in April 1804 Burr gleaned just 40 percent of the tally, he invoked the code duello and called Hamilton to pistols on the green at Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton's son had been killed in such an affair just a year before and he was well aware of Burr's marksmanship. But Hamilton consented in July 1804 to perform one last service for his country. He killed Burr's career by permitting Burr to kill him.

I've just started Throes of Democracy, but I have read enough to know that it is going to be a rollicking good ride. Michael Kazin's somewhat indifferent NY Times review of Throes of Democracy is here.

Full post as published by Houston's Clear Thinkers on March 26, 2008 (boomark / email).