Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1995
tell a tale of classical proportions-of hubris and humiliation, of power gained and lost, of the ... more tell a tale of classical proportions-of hubris and humiliation, of power gained and lost, of the failings and ineptitudes that led Federalists to their inevitable ruin. Surveying the events of the 1790s from the vantage point of the leading participants, they examine the "crisis of soul and spirit" (p. 750) that swept over the Federalists, disorienting them, infuriating them, and, eventually, driving them into reactionary paralysis. With its focus on the critical decisions and epic struggles of the founding generation, The Age of Federalism evokes the spirit of Plutarch's Lives. The Federalists should have learned from the lives of Lycurgus and Solon that "he who gave the law should not remain to administer it" (p. 752). Had Federalists been able to "let go"-to concede control of the reigns of government-their opportunistic opponents could not have assumed a posture of democratic inclusiveness. Because of their excessive personal involvement, their lack of self-awareness, and their stubborn neglect of political realities, Federalists destroyed themselves as a political force. Echoing Plutarch, Elkins and McKitrick frame their survey of the 1790s within this larger story of good intentions and bad choices, starting and ending their narrative with discussions of the Federalists' self-image. They set the scene by examining the struggle to legitimize the new polity and its leaders. George Washington embodies the link between reputation and public role that resulted in the period's personal style of politics. But Washington's consensual style fell victim to the conflicting visions and policy prescriptions of Anglophobe James Madison and Anglophile Alexander Hamilton. At stake was the new nation's character, its "moral future" (p. 113). The debate over the location of the nation's capital constituted a crucial, defining moment in the struggle over the nation's future. Elkins and McKitrick's exploration of this controversy introduces another of their underlying themes: Federalism's demise was prefigured in its early triumphs. Congress's agreement to assume state debts constituted the capstone of Hamilton's ambitious financial program. But in agreeing to create a new capital rather than adapt an existing city, the Federalists surrendered their hold on the nation's cultural identity, inviting the rise of a broad-based, public-minded national ethic of "rural prosperity and peace " (p. 193). A sustained, counter-factual rumination on the failure to construct a national metropolis reveals what Elkins and McKitrick imagined
Sir William Johnson's Reliance on the Six Nations at the Conclusion of the Anglo-Indian War of 1763–65
American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 1993
... Mingo, and Ottawa had struggled to undermine since the begin-ning of the Seven Years War.&... more ... Mingo, and Ottawa had struggled to undermine since the begin-ning of the Seven Years War.'* Now these same warriors came as victors to help negotiate an end to the war called Pontiac's. ... Metaphorically, these Mingo were no longer brothers of the Page 10. ...
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