Overview
Within the midst of an ongoing 18th century debate over the nature of language in general, American political writers engaged in a vigorous discussion over the essential character of political language. Howe (emeritus, U. of Minnesota) argues that these debates between independence and the adoption of the federal constitution, these writers "effected a fundamental transformation in the nature and expressive purposes of political language," moving away from assumptions of language's autonomy and universality towards conceptions of language as socially-connected and mutable; conceptions that laid the groundwork for the emergence of democratic politics. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, ORSynopsis
Within the midst of an ongoing 18th century debate over the nature of language in general, American political writers engaged in a vigorous discussion over the essential character of political language. Howe (emeritus, U. of Minnesota) argues that these debates between independence and the adoption of the federal constitution, these writers "effected a fundamental transformation in the nature and expressive purposes of political language," moving away from assumptions of language's autonomy and universality towards conceptions of language as socially-connected and mutable; conceptions that laid the groundwork for the emergence of democratic politics. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Indiana Magazine of History
Professor Howe's book fits nicely alongside the several works over the last decade that have explored colonial language and politics.