Research Catalog

Cords of affection : constructing constitutional union in early American history

Title: Cords of affection : constructing constitutional union in early American history / Emily Pears.
Author: Pears, Emily
Publication: Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2021]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

Item details
Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	JFE 22-3148	Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description

xi, 300 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

"American democracy seems to be running on empty. Beyond our falling faith in institutions, Americans seem to have lost trust in one another and faith in our common political enterprise. Polarization, culture wars, and protest movements have called into question our personal commitments to the constitutional community and the content of that union. Political commentators offer a huge array of descriptions of the actual problem-from polarization to anti-establishment cultural movements, and an even broader array of proposed solutions ranging from the impractical to the apocalyptic. While some of these proposals are promising, few are adequately grounded in the deep history of American politics and American political thought in particular. Emily Pears argues that a part of what we are facing today is a weakening of political attachments. Defined as the deep-seated and instinctual emotional connections between individuals and their constitutional union, attachments have long been the foundation on which our voluntary, republican society is based. But attachments are not formed automatically and require tending to maintain their strength. Pears looks back to the American Founding, a time when attachments were particularly weak, to understand how such attachments might be constructed and nurtured today. Cords of Affection explores three main mechanisms for developing and sustaining political attachments: the utilitarian use of material self-interest, the use of historical narrative to create a shared cultural identity, and the participatory use of political parties and direct democracy. While no strategy has proved successful in itself, the history of attachment-building provides lessons and resources for reforging a unified American political community today"--

Series Statement

American political thought

Uniform Title

American political thought.

Subject

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

The problem of political attachments in the American founding -- The utilitarian mechanism in practice -- Forging attachments through historical narrative -- Parties, participation, and the natural attachments of direct democracy.

Call Number

JFE 22-3148

ISBN

9780700632787
0700632786

LCCN

2021012547

OCLC

1245248205

Author

Pears, Emily, author.

Title

Cords of affection : constructing constitutional union in early American history / Emily Pears.

Publisher

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2021]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

American political thought

American political thought.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1783-1789

Research Call Number

JFE 22-3148

View in Legacy Catalog