Conservatism and southern intellectuals, 1789-1861 : liberty, tradition, and the good society / Adam L. Tate.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tate, Adam L., 1972-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Conservatism--Southern States--History--19th century.

Conservatism.

Conservatism--Southern States--History--18th century.

Southern States--Intellectual life--19th century.

Southern States.

Southern States--Intellectual life--18th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (414 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Columbia : University of Missouri Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Conservatism and Southern Intellectuals, 1789-1861, Adam L. Tate discusses the nature of southern conservative thought between 1789 and 1861 by examining six conservatives whose lives and careers spanned the antebellum period: John Randolph of Roanoke, John Taylor of Caroline, Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, William Gilmore Simms, Joseph Glover Baldwin, and Johnson Jones Hooper. Tate contends that southern conservatism derived its distinctive characteristics from its acceptance of aspects of John Locke's political theory as it was articulated during the American Revolution. Locke argued that the state and society were two entities that could be reformed and manipulated by men. Showing that most southern conservative intellectuals accepted Locke's premise regarding separation of state and society, Tate examines both the political views and social vision of the six conservatives surveyed. He pays special attention to how these conservatives dealt with states' rights, republicanism, slavery, sectionalism, and religion, as well as western expansion and migration. Tate maintains that while southern conservatives forged a common political tradition based on Old Republican interpretations of the Constitution, they did not create a unified tradition of social thought. Even though most of them desired a cohesive southern intellectual movement, as well as a homogenous southern culture, their disagreements over the good society prevented them from creating a common southern social vision to accompany their states' rights political tradition.

Contents:

The old Republicans : John Taylor of Caroline and John Randolph of Roanoke

Separating state and society : the political principles of the old Republicans

John Taylor, John Randolph, and the good society

Antebellum proslavery intellectuals : Nathaniel Beverley Tucker and William Gilmore Simms

The political principles of Tucker and Simms

Imagining the conservative slave society : the social thought of Tucker and Simms

Whig humorists : Joseph Glover Baldwin and Johnson Jones Hooper

The Whig political thought of Baldwin and Hooper

The Whig social thought of Baldwin and Hooper.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 373-396) and index.

ISBN:

0-8262-6432-8

OCLC:

191927965