The Heart of the Declaration: The Founders' Case for an Activist Government

by Steve Pincus

Overview

From one election cycle to the next, a defining question continues to divide the country’s political parties: Should the government play a major or a minor role in the lives of American citizens? The Declaration of Independence has long been invoked as a philosophical treatise in favor of limited government. Yet the bulk of the document is a discussion of policy, in which the Founders outline the failures of the British imperial government. Above all, they declared, the British state since 1760 had done too little to promote the prosperity of its American subjects. Looking beyond the Declaration’s frequently cited opening paragraphs, Steve Pincus reveals how the document is actually a blueprint for a government with extensive powers to promote and protect the people’s welfare. By examining the Declaration in the context of British imperial debates, Pincus offers a nuanced portrait of the Founders’ intentions with profound political implications.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300216189
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	09/27/2016
Series:	The Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-Century Culture and History
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Steve Pincus is the Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale University. He is the author of several books on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British history.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

1 Mount Vernon: Patriot Estate 25

2 Patriots and the Imperial Crisis of the 1760s 51

3 Making a Patriot Government 89

Epilogue 137

Notes 153

Index 199

Interviews

Your thesis is that the Zeitgeist of the founding era was not about a minimalist government as current originalist political conservatives believe, but actually the opposite—and that the Declaration of Independence shows a political sensibility embracing an activist government. What do you mean, exactly?

Many American politicians defend their own preferences for small government by asserting that the Founders believed government to be, at best, a necessary evil. In fact, they shared a similar conviction with the British Patriot Party—that government played a fundamental role in promoting the happiness or welfare of citizens. The Founders wanted powerful activist government.

Can you point to a part of the Declaration that articulates the notion of a more robust relationship between citizens and the government?

The authors of the Declaration complained bitterly that the British imperial government after 1763 did too little to promote the development of the British American colonies. The Founders concluded the Declaration by calling for the new government to have “full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.” The Declaration was America's first constitutional document.

What do you want your readers to take away from this book?

Politicians frequently have mistaken conceptions of America's founding document. Instead of calling for a minimal government, the authors of the Declaration wanted a government that would support immigration, intervene to promote commerce, and put an end to the slave trade. America's Founders in 1776 called for a state that would stimulate the economic development of the newly independent republic.

Editorial Reviews

01/16/2017
In this informative if repetitive treatise on the founders’ intent in the Declaration of Independence, Yale history professor Pincus (1688: The First Modern Revolution) presents a strong case for why, then and now, the government should actively promote the “pursuit of happiness.” He stresses the document’s pre-Revolution economic basis. The United Kingdom’s Patriot faction wanted to invest in the colonies, reasoning that the mother country could only benefit from the growth of that untapped consumer market. George III and his Tory minsters, however, wanted to retire the national debt from the Seven Years’ War and transfer much of the tax burden to the colonies, while also limiting immigration and westward expansion. Neatly completing this picture of competing interests, Pincus explains that the North American Patriots thought the unwritten British Constitution should allow them to pursue their economic interests. Perhaps most intriguingly, the book observes that many colonists, including slaveholders, opposed slavery not just on ethical grounds but also because it concentrated wealth in the hands of a few and did nothing to promote a broad consumer base. The Declaration articulates the need for an activist “government that could promote economic prosperity,” concludes Pincus. He reiterates this cogent argument briskly; despite the book’s broad applicability, his writing style will appeal more to scholars than history-interested lay readers. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

“In his new book, Wright makes a convincing case that an “America First” strategy, as advocated by President Trump, will harm both the world and the U.S. itself . . . Wright’s book is an immensely useful and lucid analysis of the current global balance of power – and therefore of the challenges that will face any occupant of the Oval Office.”—Gideon Rachman, Financial Times

TLS - Richard Whatmore

"Pincus convincingly and thoroughly outlines the core principles of the Patriots and of their political opponents, providing a firmly-grounded approach to Atlanticizing the political history of the eighteenth century."—Ken Owen, The Junto: A Group Blog on Early American History

The Junto: A Group Blog on Early American History - Ken Owen

"Highly recommended. General readers through faculty."—Choice

Choice

“The Heart of the Declaration incisively probes the affinity between liberty and a capable national state. Drafted with a sharply-etched pen, it absorbingly interprets ideas about political economy, territory, slavery, and statecraft to deepen understanding of the American Founding—then and now.”— Ira Katznelson, author of Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time

Ira Katznelson

“Steve Pincus shows that a simple question shadowed not just the modern world, but American independence: is prosperity the fruit of an activist or a nightwatchman state? American patriots thought the former, the British government the latter, the result was the US. Brilliant.”—James A. Robinson, author of Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

James A. Robinson

“Pincus is one of our best historians. His account is audaciously original, decidedly well-written, and delightfully slim. On display here is rare talent indeed.”—Don Herzog, University of Michigan Law School

Don Herzog

“Sparkling with interpretive originality and brimming with original sources, Heart of the Declaration contributes mightily not only to the history of the Declaration but also to our understanding of imperial politics, the Revolution, and the political economy of the Atlantic world.”—Daniel Hulsebosch, author of Constituting Empire: New York and the Transformation of Constitutionalism in the Atlantic World, 1664-1830

Daniel Hulsebosch

“This book resets our baseline for the American Revolution. Far from a localized protest against big government, that rebellion grew from a widely shared vision of public responsibility to stimulate economic development and consumer demand. This is a provocative history both true to its period and stunningly relevant to our times.”—Christine Desan, author of Making Money: Coin, Currency, and the Coming of Capitalism

Christine Desan

“In this searching, highly original book about the creation of the Declaration of Independence, Steve Pincus demonstrates that the politically radioactive concerns of the early 21st century—immigration, income inequality, the national debt, fiscal austerity, economic stimulus, slavery, government size, trade—were precisely those that concerned the authors of the Declaration 240 years ago.”—Jean Strouse, author of Morgan: American Financier

Jean Strouse

Pincus convincingly and thoroughly outlines the core principles of the Patriots and of their political opponents, providing a firmly grounded approach to Atlanticizing the political history of the eighteenth century.”—Ken Owen, Junto

"Highly recommended. General readers through faculty."—Choice

"[A] tempting invitation to rethink both the origins of the Revolution and its consequences"—Jack Rakove, Journal of American History

"This book resets our baseline for the American Revolution. Far from a localized protest against big government, that rebellion grew from a widely shared vision of public responsibility to stimulate economic development and consumer demand. This is a provocative history both true to its period and stunningly relevant to our times."—Christine Desan, author of Making Money: Coin, Currency, and the Coming of Capitalism

"Steve Pincus shows that a simple question shadowed not just the modern world, but American independence: is prosperity the fruit of an activist or a nightwatchman state? American patriots thought the former, the British government the latter, the result was the US. Brilliant."—James A. Robinson, author of Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

"Pincus is one of our best historians. His account is audaciously original, decidedly well-written, and delightfully slim. On display here is rare talent indeed."—Don Herzog, University of Michigan Law School

"Sparkling with interpretive originality and brimming with original sources, Heart of the Declaration contributes mightily not only to the history of the Declaration but also to our understanding of imperial politics, the Revolution, and the political economy of the Atlantic world."—Daniel Hulsebosch, author of Constituting Empire: New York and the Transformation of Constitutionalism in the Atlantic World, 1664-1830

"The Heart of the Declaration incisively probes the affinity between liberty and a capable national state. Drafted with a sharply-etched pen, it absorbingly interprets ideas about political economy, territory, slavery, and statecraft to deepen understanding of the American Founding—then and now."— Ira Katznelson, author of Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time

From the Publisher