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Beyond Whig Constitutionalism: New Perspectives on the Constitutional Debates in Creation of the American Republic
Calvert, Jane E.
Calvert, Jane E.
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Abstract
An invitation to discuss the import of Gordon Wood’s work is daunting. Considering the countless studies that have been inspired by Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1789 (1969) alone, not to mention his nine other monographs, it would be impossible in a brief essay to synthesize the influence of his corpus of work and the historiographical debates and developments they have inspired. Although my training began in the mid-1990s just as the major debate over his Creation was waning, it has nevertheless been foundational to my scholarship and teaching for over 25 years. Suffice it to say, with his reach into both the scholarly and the popular imaginations, Wood is the most influential historian of the Founding in American history.
The usual understanding of Creation is that Wood’s main purpose was to synthesize recent intellectual history and apply it to the public statements of the founders to argue for a new framework within which to understand their aims. That new framework was republicanism. Wiping away the so-called liberal consensus of the previous generation, Wood convinced a new generation of historians that republicanism was more than structures of government; it was an ideology, a set of motivating principles, an ideal. In flawless prose evincing mastery of an astonishing array of primary and secondary sources, Wood documented how republicanism flourished and then failed, even as the founders attempted to put into practice.