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Eminent Victorians on American Democracy - The View from Albion (Hardcover)
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Eminent Victorians on American Democracy - The View from Albion (Hardcover)
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Eminent Victorians on American Democracy surveys a wide range of
British opinion on the United States in the nineteenth century and
highlights the views of John Stuart Mill, Walter Bagehot, Sir Henry
Maine, and James Bryce, who wrote extensively on American
government and society. America was significant to them not only
because it was the world's most advanced democracy, but also
because it was a political experiment that was seen to anticipate
the future of Britain. The Victorians made a memorable contribution
to the continuing debate over the character and origins of
democracy through their perceptive examination of issues ranging
from the US Constitution to its practical application, from the
Supreme Court to the party system. Their trenchant commentary
punctures several popular American assumptions, not least the idea
of 'exceptionalism'. To Victorian commentators, the bonds of
kinship, law, and language were of great significance; and while
they did not see the United States as having a unique destiny, they
rallied to an 'Anglo-American exceptionalism', which reflected
their sense of a shared transatlantic history. What distinguishes
the Victorian writers was their willingness to examine the US
Constitution dispassionately at a time when Americans treated it as
a sacred document. Although the United States has changed
dramatically since they wrote, much of their commentary remains
remarkably prescient, if only because the American government
retains so much of its eighteenth-century character. Today, when
rival American priesthoods see the Constitution in the light of
their particular altars, it is worth revisiting what leading
Victorians had to say about it. It may come as a shock to American
readers.
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