Main currents in American thought

I. Old Boston: Conservatism of temper—a reaction from the revolutionary enthusiasm of ’76. Emphasized by refusal to entertain French romantic theories. The renaissance delayed a generation. The home of the stake-in-society principle; opposition to democracy

II. Fisher Ames and the Tie-Wig School: The spokesman of Boston Federalism. A conservative, given to pessimism. His political philosophy an adaptation of English Whiggery to the Calvinistic conception of stewardship; based on an absolute morality. Prosperity and the Saints—the end of government to protect property; hence it must be strong and coercive. Fear of faction. A repository of aristocratic prejudice

I. Changing economics after 1812—rise of industrialism. A new spirit of nationalism. Danger of agrarianism, particularism. Rise of the Whig party—middle-class capitalistic. Menace of the new southern school of states rights. Need of a new nationalistic theory of the Constitution

II. Work begun by Joseph Story: A Massachusetts Republican. Characteristics of New England Republicanism. His shift to Whiggery. His Commentaries on the Constitution: derived from the common law and The Federalist. His view of the compact—interpretation of “We the people”

III. Daniel Webster—Realist and Constitutionalist: Contrasted with Emerson—English in temperament. Two periods of intellectual development: an eighteenth-century realist before 1825; a legalist afterwards. A disciple of Harrington. Two early speeches: The Basis of the Senate, The First Settlement of New England—an elaboration of the economic basis of politics. His economic theory—laissez faire. Shift to protectionism due to changing economics of his constituents. His reply to Hayne. His constitutional theory in The Constitution not a Compact—his debt to Story. His position on slavery—The Seventh of March Speech. Effect on his reputation. Comment of liberals. The Dartmouth College case. His failure

I. The stir in the church. French romanticism and Unitarianism. The conservative reaction. The dilemma of Calvinism—efforts to escape the horns of dogma. The growth of rationalism. The philosophy of Unitarianism—a recovery of the principle of primitive Congregationalism. Elements of conservatism

II. William Ellery Channing: A spiritual nature, concerned with two cardinal ideas: God’s love, man’s excellence. Slow clarification of his thought. Major tenets derived from Rousseau and the English Arians. Attitude toward slavery. Theory of the political state—approximation to the position of Jefferson. On freedom of speech—the vital principle of Unitarianism

I. William Lloyd Garrison: A flinty character. His early life. The Liberator. A primitive Hebraist—his antagonisms. His political theory founded on the Declaration of Independence. A Perfectionist. Nullified the Constitution. The strength and weakness of his methods

II. John G. Whittier—Puritan-Quaker: The religion of the Inner Light. A primitive Christian—a Come-outer. Significance of Leaves from Margaret Smith’s Journal. The politician amongst the Abolitionists. Reasons for his break with Garrison. Not a political thinker. His Abolitionist verse. His later verse. An anachronism in industrial New England

III. Harriet Beecher Stowe—A Daughter of Puritanism: Her Calvinist heredity. A sympathetic student of New England psychology. Intellectual antecedents. Old-Town Folks; Poganuc People. The Minister’s Wooing a defense of the Calvinist clergy. Her contact with slavery—Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Dred