Intellectual Origins Of Jeffersonian Democracy

The Intellectual Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy, available for the first time in this Lexington Books edition, is Douglass Adair's first major work of historical inquiry. Adair was a mentor to many of the nation's leading scholars and has long been admired for his original and profound observations about the founding of the American republic. Written in 1943, The Intellectual Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy has been praised widely as the seminal analysis of the origins of American democracy. The passage of time has not dulled Adair's arguments; instead, his critique of economic determinism, his emphasis on the influence of ideology on the Founders, and his belief in the importance of civic virtue and morality to good republican government have become ever more critical to our conception of American history. With judicious prose and elegant insights, Adair explores the classical and modern European heritage of liberalism, and he raises fundamental questions about the nature of democratic government. This book is for any serious reader interested in American intellectual history, political thought, and the founding of the republic.

In print here for the first time is the dissertation of Douglass G. Adair, a classic work that-despite being formally unpublished since its writing in 1943-has had a profound influence on several generations of historians of American political thought. It is a masterpiece of exploration into and analysis of the sources of American republican thought.

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Ably edited by Mark E. Yellin and enhanced with a foreword by Joyce Appleby, Douglass Adair's 1943 treatise The Intellectual Origins Of Jeffersonian Democracy: Republicanism, The Class Struggle, And The Virtuous Farmer offers contemporary readers a wealth of judicious prose and elegant insights into the classical and modern European heritage of American liberalism as reflecting in the establishment of an American democracy. Long out of print, this edition of The Intellectual Origins Of Jeffersonian Democracy is a very welcome addition to the reading lists for students of American intellectual and political history, as well as the principles inspiring and governing the founding of the American republic.

Douglass G. Adair was Professor of History at the College of William and Mary and Claremont Graduate School. He was the editor of the William and Mary Quarterly in the 1940s and 1950s, during which time he led the journal to the prominence it enjoys today. Mark E. Yellin teaches at North Carolina State University. He has been a contributor to the Review of Politics and the American Political Science Review.