As a dutiful American, my first instinct is to rebel against this argument—after all, these men were hardly uneducated when you actually read their writings. The basic literacy level/reading comprehension in the colonies was low, and must be accounted for, so they had to make the argument accessible for the masses.
However, the closing point cuts well. I just finished This Kind of War. There’s the feeling amongst people—usually in their 50s and 60s—who speak of the grit of the young, and how they’re not as textured as them or their fathers. But when you really look at things, they are much the same in that realm. Yet certainly, social media is a new beast altogether, and the true effects not yet developed enough to know although emerging.
Tyler, TKOW is great. And this is not intended as a diss of either the pamphleteers or those who read them. Certainly, the Framers were intellectual giants. All I mean to observe is that we can sometimes project onto the past more coherence and wisdom and depth than we think we see in our own time when we have reason to be optimistic.
Also: I should add in the piece that Bailyn did not think the pamphlets were trashy. He does use words like amateurish, he does say they were unimaginative, etc., but he applauds the directness of their argumentation and as importantly, their aspirations.
Very nicely done. When doing intellectual/political history, I think one must distinguish between thought (self-conscious, problematic, contested) and the construction of a world, Weltanshauung. The former may contribute to the latter (Rousseau and the French Revolution springs to mind), but it is the latter that matters for politics, for going to war, for the sense (and nonsense) of a particular time. So yeah, pamphlets matter.
YOUR GRANDAD WOULD BE PROUD! IAM AN OLD FRIEND OF KARL'S, AND OF YOUR MOTHER. I se Henry and Jenifer from time to time to time to time and saw Jed a while ago... . And occasionally talk to Jill at Big Y..
You are following in your parent's footsteps. --I am also a writer, as was my husband, Mike!
best to all of you....gloria levitas --and special regards to your mom....
I just scrolled down on your other writing. Are you working for a magazine or newspaper or simply decided to put your ideas on line? i will try to read some of your other writing -- I have been captivated, recently, by American History --- and look forward to see how you perceive it... gloria
Would love to read it. And will read some (if not all) of your other stuff. I am old as dirt, as they say, and while I am still writing articles, am not quite as energetic as I used to bel but I would love to stay in touchl
stay tunedl. and how are your sisters and other brother?
I'm pretty sure the founding fathers were Illuminati freemasons that killed off the native peoples that lived here so they could establish land holding companies. This makes the most sense in what is trending today; the infiltration of America came from within. It took hundreds of years
to fully enslave the masses by the "elites" and now we're here.
As a dutiful American, my first instinct is to rebel against this argument—after all, these men were hardly uneducated when you actually read their writings. The basic literacy level/reading comprehension in the colonies was low, and must be accounted for, so they had to make the argument accessible for the masses.
However, the closing point cuts well. I just finished This Kind of War. There’s the feeling amongst people—usually in their 50s and 60s—who speak of the grit of the young, and how they’re not as textured as them or their fathers. But when you really look at things, they are much the same in that realm. Yet certainly, social media is a new beast altogether, and the true effects not yet developed enough to know although emerging.
Tyler, TKOW is great. And this is not intended as a diss of either the pamphleteers or those who read them. Certainly, the Framers were intellectual giants. All I mean to observe is that we can sometimes project onto the past more coherence and wisdom and depth than we think we see in our own time when we have reason to be optimistic.
Also: I should add in the piece that Bailyn did not think the pamphlets were trashy. He does use words like amateurish, he does say they were unimaginative, etc., but he applauds the directness of their argumentation and as importantly, their aspirations.
Very nicely done. When doing intellectual/political history, I think one must distinguish between thought (self-conscious, problematic, contested) and the construction of a world, Weltanshauung. The former may contribute to the latter (Rousseau and the French Revolution springs to mind), but it is the latter that matters for politics, for going to war, for the sense (and nonsense) of a particular time. So yeah, pamphlets matter.
What a great piece—I’ll definitely be checking out your other stuff. Perfect blend of contextualizing the book and applying its ideas to today.
Thank you for reading and for saying so. Glad to have you here.
YOUR GRANDAD WOULD BE PROUD! IAM AN OLD FRIEND OF KARL'S, AND OF YOUR MOTHER. I se Henry and Jenifer from time to time to time to time and saw Jed a while ago... . And occasionally talk to Jill at Big Y..
You are following in your parent's footsteps. --I am also a writer, as was my husband, Mike!
best to all of you....gloria levitas --and special regards to your mom....
I just scrolled down on your other writing. Are you working for a magazine or newspaper or simply decided to put your ideas on line? i will try to read some of your other writing -- I have been captivated, recently, by American History --- and look forward to see how you perceive it... gloria
Hello Gloria! What serendipity. I will send you a message.
Would love to read it. And will read some (if not all) of your other stuff. I am old as dirt, as they say, and while I am still writing articles, am not quite as energetic as I used to bel but I would love to stay in touchl
stay tunedl. and how are your sisters and other brother?
This is why I publish print pamphlets! We need ideas distributed far and wide, and in a format that focuses our attention.
I'm pretty sure the founding fathers were Illuminati freemasons that killed off the native peoples that lived here so they could establish land holding companies. This makes the most sense in what is trending today; the infiltration of America came from within. It took hundreds of years
to fully enslave the masses by the "elites" and now we're here.
I wrote up a piece about the flyer put out by Paul Revere here: https://open.substack.com/pub/annieny497450/p/the-further-genius-of-paul-revere?r=rxi8w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false