Machiavelli’s Liberal Republican Legacy

Paul A. Rahe0521851874, 9780521851879, 9780511137464

The significance of Machiavelli’s political thinking for the development of modern republicanism is a matter of great controversy. This reassessment examines the character of Machiavelli’s own republicanism by charting his influence on Marchamont Nedham, James Harrington, John Locke, Algernon Sidney, John Trenchard, Thomas Gordon, David Hume, the baron de Montesquieu, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. Concluding that although Machiavelli himself was not liberal, Paul Rahe argues that he did, nonetheless, set the stage for the emergence of liberal republicanism in England.

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Table of contents :
Cover……Page 1
Half-title……Page 3
Title……Page 5
Copyright……Page 6
Dedication……Page 7
Contents……Page 9
Contributors……Page 11
Acknowledgments……Page 13
Abbreviations and Brief Titles……Page 15
Introduction……Page 21
Machiavelli’s Modern Populism……Page 23
The English Commonwealthmen……Page 24
The Moderate Enlightenment……Page 27
The American Founding……Page 29
Prologue……Page 33
Machiavelli’s Break with Classical Republicanism……Page 36
The Civil Way of Life: Orders and Laws……Page 40
Necessary Evil……Page 44
The Mixed Regime……Page 46
The Elite and the Multitude……Page 49
Founding, Good Customs, Corruption, and Return to Beginnings……Page 53
War and Empire……Page 58
Well-Ordered License……Page 61
Machiavelli’s Project……Page 62
Part I The English Commonwealthmen……Page 65
1 Machiavelli in the English Revolution……Page 73
The Excellencie of a Free State……Page 76
The Spirit of Popular Distrust……Page 79
The End of Government……Page 83
The Commonwealth of Oceana……Page 86
A Republic Tongue-Ty’d……Page 93
An Immortal Commonwealth……Page 96
2 The Philosophy of Liberty……Page 100
The Liberation from Heaven……Page 102
The Liberation from Teleology……Page 107
Arms of One’s Own……Page 114
Conclusion……Page 120
3 Muted and Manifest English Machiavellianism……Page 122
Sidney’s Muted Machiavellianism……Page 125
Cato’s Manifest Machiavellianism……Page 139
Conclusion……Page 150
Part II The Moderate Enlightenment……Page 151
4 Getting Our Bearings……Page 158
Machiavelli and the Tradition……Page 161
Machiavelli and His Successors……Page 168
Hume and Machiavelli……Page 172
Conclusion……Page 180
5
The Machiavellian Spirit of Montesquieu’s
Liberal Republic……Page 185
Necessity and Republican Faction……Page 188
The Moderation of Machiavellism in The Spirit of Laws……Page 195
Separation of Powers and the Constitutional Politics of Moderation……Page 197
The Moderating Spirit of Judging and the Rule of Law……Page 201
Machiavellian Moderation and the Perpetuation of Liberal Constitutionalism……Page 204
6 Benjamin Franklin’s “Machiavellian” Civic Virtue……Page 207
Franklin’s Realpolitik……Page 208
Franklin and Modern Science……Page 211
Franklin and Modern Philosophy……Page 214
Humanity and Religion……Page 221
Civility……Page 225
Part III The American Founding……Page 231
7 The American Prince?……Page 234
Washington’s Virtue……Page 237
The Washingtonian Moment……Page 239
New Modes and Orders?……Page 243
Thoughts on Machiavelli and Washington……Page 246
Conclusion……Page 250
8
John Adams’s Machiavellian Moment……Page 253
“Reason in Matters of Government”……Page 255
Reviving the “Ancient Politics”……Page 264
Conclusion……Page 270
9
Thomas Jefferson’s Machiavellian Political Science……Page 272
The Politics of Distrust……Page 274
Wolves and Sheep……Page 276
Institutions vs. Tumults……Page 277
Prerogative……Page 278
Anticipation, Resistance, and Revolution……Page 282
The Logic of Jefferson’s Legislative Program……Page 285
Popular Education, Ward Republics, and Political Jealousy……Page 289
10
James Madison’s Princes and Peoples……Page 293
Founding and the Few……Page 296
Maintenance and the Many……Page 306
11 Was Alexander Hamilton a Machiavellian Statesman?……Page 318
By Our Own Arms and Virtue……Page 320
Waging War and Sustaining Liberty……Page 328
Hamilton’s Anti-Machiavellian Republic……Page 338
Index……Page 343