Sublime

What excited Europeans was the belief that they had both the right and the means to ‘make’ or remake America in Europe’s image, or even as an improved version of the old continent.

The settlers of New England were at the same time ardent sectarians and daring innovators. Narrow as the limits of some of their religious opinions were, they were entirely free from political prejudices.

In 2018, the Jefferson Davis and Nathan Bedford Forrest statues were removed from Memphis city parks. It was in the evening, in front of crowds who had been organizing against monuments to the Confederacy there. Yet do I marvel at the claims of patriotism under the banner of a traitorous flag. Of course Confederates saw themselves as holding on to

The balance of rights and prerogatives in every state (and every unit) depended upon local custom and precedent, inherited and defended by local interests. This way of thinking had been taken by Spanish and English settlers to the American colonies, and helped to explain the difficulties that faced every attempt to assert the authority of the imper

I’m a sucker for Puritan New England and the Civil War. Because those two subjects feature the central tension of American life, the conflict between freedom and community, between individual will and the public good.