| Preface and Acknowledgments | vii |
| Part I | History | |
| 1. | Conservatism in Colonial and Early America | 3 |
| 2. | Conservatism in the Age of Democracy | 14 |
| 3. | Conservatism in the Antebellum South | 28 |
| 4. | The Rise of Laissez-Faire Conservatism | 39 |
| 5. | Conservative Custodians of Culture | 55 |
| 6. | Conservatism Between the Wars | 66 |
| 7. | The Postwar Conservative Revival | 80 |
| 8. | Conservatism in an Age of Turmoil | 95 |
| 9. | Conservatism Ascendant: The Reagan Years and After | 112 |
| Part II | Documents | |
| 1. | Alexander Hamilton Broadly Interprets the Constitution | 133 |
| 2. | A Conservative Defends a Republican Form of Government | 137 |
| 3. | The Supreme Court Extends Its Powers | 139 |
| 4. | A Defense of Property Qualifications for Voting | 143 |
| 5. | An Argument for Liberty Balanced by Order | 146 |
| 6. | John C. Calhoun and the Concurrent Majority | 149 |
| 7. | A Southerner Defends Slavery | 153 |
| 8. | An Argument for Laissez-Faire Conservatism | 157 |
| 9. | The Effects of Public Opinion on Democracy | 160 |
| 10. | A Cultural Conservative's Ambivalence | 163 |
| 11. | A Conservative Looks to Medievalism | 166 |
| 12. | A New Humanist Urges Aristocracy | 168 |
| 13. | A Southern Agrarian Takes His Stand | 172 |
| 14. | A Conservative Opposes Universal Military Training | 176 |
| 15. | William F. Buckley, Jr. Speaks out for Conservatism | 180 |
| 16. | Young Conservatives Affirm Their Principles | 184 |
| 17. | Barry Goldwater Opposes the Civil Rights Act of 1964 | 186 |
| 18. | Irving Kristol on Conservatism and Capitalism | 189 |
| 19. | A Jurist Calls for Judicial Restraint | 192 |
| 20. | The Moral Majority and Its Goals | 195 |
| 21. | Cultural Modernism and Capitalism | 198 |
| 22. | A Neoconservative's Views on Foreign Policy | 202 |
| Select Bibliography | 207 |
| Index | 211 |
