Nonfiction · 1865
The American Republic
Its Constitution, Tendencies, and Destiny
Brownson's attempt, written as the Civil War ended, to say what the United States actually is. He argues against the two accounts then available — that the nation is a compact of sovereign states, and that it is a simple consolidated democracy — and puts a third: that sovereignty rests in the people organised territorially as one political community, that the states and the union are coordinate rather than superior and inferior, and that the written constitution rests on an unwritten one that grew rather than being made. From this he takes up secession, slavery, the political status of the territories, the relations of church and state, and what he expects the country's mission to be.
Orestes Brownson published The American Republic in 1865. He had passed through Presbyterianism, Universalism, Unitarianism, transcendentalism and socialism before converting to Catholicism in 1844, and the book is the settled political statement of a much-changed mind.
This Bibliomancer edition presents the complete text.
Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Chapter I — Introduction
- Chapter II — Government
- Chapter III — Origin of Government
- Chapter VII — From God through the people;—
- Chapter IV — Origin of Government—Continued
- Chapter V — Origin of Government—Continued
- Chapter VI — Origin of Government—Concluded
- Chapter VII — Constitution of Government
- Chapter VIII — Constitution of Government—Concluded
- Chapter IX — The United States
- Chapter X — Constitution of the United States
- Chapter XI — The Constitution—Continued
- Chapter XII — Secession
- Chapter XIII — Reconstruction
- Chapter XIV — Political Tendencies
- Chapter XV — Destiny—Political and Religious
New editions
Never lose your place.
This book is free to read in full, and stays that way. Leave an address: one click confirms it and opens a free account, so your progress and bookmarks sync across every device. You'll also hear when the next restored edition enters the archive. Terminate at any time.
Subjects
About this edition
The text is free of copyright. This edition was prepared from an authoritative digitisation, processed by Bibliomancer under its own review protocol; every automated correction is recorded in its transformation log. Rights assessed for CA, EU, GB, US.
Source mind
About the author
Adjacent records
