Description
Book SynopsisRather, the Revolution built upon a long history of civic engagement and a complicated relationship between the practice of majority-rule and exclusionary policy-making on the part of appointed and self-selected constituencies.
Trade ReviewGo verned by a Spirit of Opposition is a stimulating piece of work and an exceptional piece of scholarship... [I]t could act as a model for future scholarship on colonial politics. -- Christopher F. Minty The Junto The book is a good companion to those town studies of a half century ago, but it is also an important social history that takes us to new levels of inquiry into the economy and culture of eighteenth-century urban life. William and Mary Quarterly Governed by a Spirit of Opposition is tightly organized and narratively driven. Its compact length will make it accessible in both graduate and undergraduate classrooms, while scholars of Philadelphia, civi life, and both the colonial and revolutionary eras will appreciate this fresh interpretation of associational culture. Governed by a Spirit of Opposition
Table of ContentsSeries Editor's Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. "Named Before Thou Wert Born": A City Imagined and Realized
2. Intoxicated with Power: Chartering the Philadelphia Corporation
3. For a General Benefit: Developing Popular Voluntary Associations
4. Amidst "Rancour and Party Hatred": Association by Exclusion
5. Lending in Plain Sight: Covert Banks
6. Private Men Interfering with Government: Taking Over from the State
7. Mars Ascendant: The Military Association and the Reconstitution of Government
Epilogue
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index
