200 Years of Liberal Democracy in America, Part 2
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set beyond all as parliament suddenly became aware that was prompted by the taxpaying clients landholding sections and the role of the war in the keeping of the piece had been become very expensive revenue x taxing macaulay for what after all could be construed as a warner interesting essentially unfortunately the primary act passed for scaring revenue was the stamp act of sending sixty five years xl most heavily on exactly the wrong group in america a new elite merchants lawyers publicists and feel a sauce is every document from newspapers and hapless wills cargo manifests a land each had to bear the king step it's directly threatens the most intelligent and received recently traveled elite this group in addition an increasingly felt threatened not only by the rising military establishments pretentious it's not content to a salsa class but also by still another get british bureaucracy fasten upon america says with ever growing numbers of customs agents revenue collectors english factors insurance agents bombs when
inspectors mice admiralty court officers we're lovers and the growing stacks of agents and spies to which we now need to be added a legion of stamp sellers an armada of revenue putters a patrol boat in addition to the unofficial status enjoyed by these new quality favorites are colonial businessman farmers shippers and publicist bitterly resented the eventual expulsion overzealous person racketeering that was common practice among those as well the kings bureaucracy in north america and pursued the main chance what'd they might be called the government and as real or imagined infringing upon their liberty cmos to leonard because not money alone we used to carry months over internal versus extra on taxation harass the car's psychological threat to their liberties and the newly one leadership status of the vocal corio in the class nobody obviously now the racketeering rigorously good behavior the king's military
officers and civilian agencies helped build up particularly in the minds of sober new englanders of state planners like george washington image of rampant new solution and immorality emanating from britain or so bad example a principled high living in his agents in america had begun to change the co the colonials image of britain itself for behind all of inspiration for policy indeed one of the chief cause for assuming the hardline and eventually lost america was the continued by sir general gage in the military bureaucratic establishment nearly every dispatcher decade gave sound of the law are due to get tough policy called for larger army and it will establish it dispatches a reporter echoed by other officers and my civil issues such as the governor massachusetts whose lavish house of insect my mom as a crucial decade long tenure weary crafts or became the target of abuse by flowing into parliament in the king
from those who were soon to be the most expert the man on the spot fossil tighter restrictions greater bureaucracy and there are a larger show of military strength and a policy of gray market to heal ambition to neglecting to mention a factor such a policy would cement and perpetuate their own powers of potential wealth crowns man on the spot last over their own palace particular dishonor estes and examples of bad judgment we also fail to face up to the obvious such a fox such a policy that civil war and expensive conflict ridden should france be drawn into it just might lose its north american empire so much depends upon the expert civil servant the man on the spot tory colonial seems almost inescapable precondition for takeoff into a disastrous in korea war well any other factor is pro consul strategy opening this elite use a needlessly
showing military economic and bureaucratic or she seems to lead to the american revolution in any case pretty strategy failed besides organizing a college has never before and brought to the front the natural leaders in america for its own mobilizing intellectual talents of these leaders is to generate a new kind of an ideological approach i seventy and seventy six the war which had already begun on april seventeen seventy five at lexington and concord had turned into something quite different from a legal struggle you become the feel a sauce for an ideological struggle that was made to represent the culmination of the enlightenment struggle for the rights of man and the better environment short of the last vestiges of decadent what better place than america ages nation reopening struggle in the great cause of liberty which recall campaign so optimistically declared liberty avenue world the american revolution as it develops through several years of war had become
an adventure of the mind myth of creation as well as a grand struggle of audience body as the american revolution did come to have its ideological divide or early exit and seize of the historical situations involving big armored callous proconsul ship in the service of encouraged liberty was nature's basic liberty possible whatever interpretation one chooses to put to an american revolution and one outcome that the french and russian revolutions did not which is a vital importance as a model to countries around the world independence for a new nation his all important concept is largely taken for granted by north american cultural analysts were mainly intent upon keeping alive the revolutionary others in the hemisphere and around the world even those who've been water revolution independence cannot be taken for granted else search for that elusive
status or conditions in every day desperate there sasha what's important on this occasion to examine more closely just won independence consisted of what the north american highly suggested that in their liberty and over a large extent less a fair in all things on the great into the calmness relatively empty khan this is two simple libertine and a natural right individual self determination to a man as a member of human society which existed before government also he imagines emotional belief in liberty as a given the test to the profound impact of liberal ideas on society at all well without this emotional belief in the right to liberty the american would've found no cause for grievance against the king and his ministers since the citizens have no profound rights to violent severino and pans were largely perceived in walking in terms of that each individual members will write me also exist in society rice does depend upon a certain mutuality among individuals and the recognizing this and inform governments
delegated authority to secure these rights was among themselves with regard to outside social entity independence the snow that condition or of personal in in society that denoted the ability to secure to liberty there's far north american independence in theory use it in all levels of life was personal was to sidle it was government or salaries reckon recognizing a personal and societal independence to precedent for that in the state in the united states from the beginning to the philosophy of john locke the individual in society or more important than the state that was true independence state existed to maintain his condition both internally and extract state it the new united states to america was unrecognized not automatically guarantee either itself or its citizens to independence in a family of nations certain internal problems of liberty or independence were ignored or a postponement
a whole range of states' rights versus national rights interpretation of the bill of rights and other clauses in the constitution relating to a reason every level the question of slavery and the status of the indian were left eyelid to the court order battlefields to decide and some such as the extent of women's lib reason to not use it yet likewise on the international oil independence liberty and freedom of action as a nation was not guaranteed for all times by the revolution samilton perhaps more than any other founding father worked assiduously to make independence a permanent condition his financial plans for funding the war debt and creating a stable national bank or aimed at securing national credit abroad send to encourage home manufactures look toward continental economic self sufficiency his support for j street with britain was aimed at securing not only lasting peace with my ideas power through mutuality of interest but also genuine recognition of america's existence by that our
said jewish and somewhat akin to that of israel in the middle east today none of these measures are final hour throughout the early years of its existence you know stay struggle for independence on into the war between twelve and i would maintain proper first half of the nineteenth century balkanization of the country wasn't ever possible threat and economic growth was largely depend upon foreign loans and the equivalent of multinational corporations such as world larry bramlage they and four donors of our railroads and canals minds think our actions american soon learned that independence once achieve was and still remains not easy to maintain independence fully as much as revolution plaza ongoing dramatic struggle says citizens of the united states were never guaranteed pre security for because
this was tempted to conclude that just as there was a myth the revolution sturmer there was also missing independence set ms began with john stable of man in the state of nature and i was just natural right story line carries the weight of the american republic an experiment relative less a fair avoidance of extreme ideologies faith in democratic self government notions of whorl security and belief in a fundamental orbit takes precedence over nations and states when those american history when consumers heroes and no incentives to try and search of independence it also seems clear that from the beginning when the north american independence was a relative say we so in large table which implied mutuality and it worked out that's in the history of our people on all levels independence evolved in response to situations and it was never perfect rather independence involve a great
contradiction there was not possible without the same time assuming a position of deepens if not of deference independence depend upon mutually among men society and nations for cents a day depend upon mutually among them society in nations and the other americans were free to create those institutional forms of society and government that would most guaranteed perpetuate liberty and independent soul a well on a societal level republicanism seem to offer the most promise in the federalists who were her strong government were forced to embrace many of the tenants set it's meant that a general societal consensus existed saw virtue in your monitoring private property generally quality certainly call you opportunity you washing of rank and privilege separation of church and state guarantee a certain inalienable rights to the individual
representative form of government that was responsible to the people and balance powers in has diffused throughout the system at the outset most people deplore the idea of monarchy or the same time responsible society leaders the founding fathers were fearful of excessive democracy mama grizzly some of them called the result was the constitution and seventeen eighty seven when the bill of rights which crystallize the republican spirit embody the diffusion of our principal and guaranteed normally inalienable rights ultimate sovereignty to the people essentially the constitution was a compromise by combination which into democratic fashion encompass the views of his many citizens as possible women negroes an indian shopping centers there was a flexible instrument of government bailout for growth and change such that one historian has called her first romantic
organic instrument of government i was also vague and postponed as i suggested earlier basic decisions as to states versus federal rights specific role of the courts sexual question the negro in the indian and women questions and the last constitution allows for peaceful transfer of carmel car from the federalist to the democratic republicans under jefferson eighteen hundred year by allowing the country to some out one of the common perils of the newly independent nation lately more of revolution in his case it offered convincing proof that republican democracy did work votes and builders counted korean treaty hundred congress not the presidents he became the focus of popular interest great heroes of the day were henry clay any webster john c calhoun john quin zy adams gain much more claims that people's tv in old man eloquent in the house representative steny are doing his one term as president all of this meant to early american nationalism was fashioned out of confidence by the people and their
representatives met in congress assembled it also meant that for nearly a quarter century these representatives proceed to certain mutuality of interest among sections classes an individual citizens only differences over policy in the warm at twelve threatened to divide during this period to the courts as guarantors of individual liberties gained a conference of the people judge is a rose from grassroots backgrounds trials by jury of one's peers were visible sign that sovereignty and slavery still rested with the democracy what electoral triumph of andrew jackson eighteen twenty eight the president's often actually appeared as the tribune of the people jackson's war against the bank of the united states and his political philosophy gave a new twist to the definition of wimbledon markers his party slogan was the world is too much government in jackson was for small government we saw it as his duty to use whatever powers he had
to attack entrenched business monopolies the bank of the united states because it represented in a new concentration of power at the expense of the people in the case of the bank absolute power the nation's money supply according to jackson was bound to corrupt absolute jackson has every school person knows destroyed the monster ray yasser was useless after or to take control over the fate of the union and the nullification crisis of eighteen thirty two the expansion republican institutions across the country jackson in fact became so powerful a public tribune that his party was eventually defeated king and his party was pulled out by the people who was to return to the log cabin and hard cider of old the universal liberal democracy spoken it had forty five we will democracy have also expanded his horizons is on the sister republican texas constitution indicated that the interstate and soon reached out across the whole
trans mississippi west contest with mexico in britain or the right to republican ice or bring liberal democracy to have a continent in the same time to insure independence against foreign interference with a great experiment even the crew about men saw himself as an apostle of what had become a state religion or below markers meeting forties one of the road quote here lies the bones of all black parents who often traveled beyond the far west and for the freedom of equal rights he crossed the snowy mountain heights i didnt sixty one however we will mark a sea he found a problem or could not south civil war resulted lincoln the president elect begich no clearcut majority in this case they've been the map to see which would include the negro as man and citizen clash with the liberal group greek democracy that would the world have stood still and seventeen eighty seven lincoln himself suspended basically traditional liberties expedience of
the war or the same time for claiming time after time ran nashville visions of the future that lie before government of the people by the people mr christie never be quite the same hour constitutional amendments which freed the negro enfranchised and politically only race for the profound questions over the meaning of economic and social workers and after a brief experiment with the freedoms bureau for nearly seventy years the government on every level perhaps reflecting the will of the majority took no steps to protect the inalienable rights of all of its citizens against the overwhelming power of a white majority in addition to civil war brought under you know economic concentration and the railroad monopolies beef trusts while trust banking trusts in grain crust sprang up everywhere wielding great private power protected by the courts and that the fourteenth amendment at the expense of the people
thus liberal democracy individual independence was threatened after the civil war paradoxically enough by the tyranny of the majority in the case of negro rights and the tyranny of the minority and the case of the trust building mobile still too surprising degree in people's representatives and spokesman rapport with the problem a whole series of nader reformers came to the fore victoria woodhull first woman candidate for president making seventy two hours and were no i'm a utopian socialist henri georges single tax or samuel numbers jones leader eugene debs a perennial socialist candidate ignatius donnelly larry only soccer's terry simpson and the boy or the plant when jennings bryan spoke for the farmers sally theodore roosevelt the well said william howard taft the undernourished willow wilson or teach heroic
stature in the cause of reform was passed last off an interstate commerce act of at eighty seven in the sherman act of eighty nine he claimed any prospect of nineteen fourteen attending to combat excesses of power at the expense of the people reform became an aspect of the revolutionary heritage an american tradition in itself holder you can't rationalize asian organization of american life after the civil war symbolized by cities for education lines factories and assembly lines emergence of them visible capitalist market place in wall street to sidle i seen something of the day gaming quality of life was everywhere apparent in rags to riches success stories and businessmen to the labeling their occupations the oil game the banking game will the real estate game monopoly game was just no invention of an inevitability in fact
as early as eighteen sixty the game of life appeared in american toy stores like getaway swartz we would like to see an emergent reform tradition entered the picture as more and more people demanding that whatever game life was it must be played fairly and according to the rules this meant the government took on and greatly enhanced role as function was to keep the game however agreement was honest it was the guardian the old rules and it is an individual opportunity a meaningful democratic expression against the new concentrations of power a private individuals for combinations of vintage we're working in the one felt it was the duty of government to protect the people against big business as it became antisocial to normalcy in the twenties which led into business of america was business
and government the treasury oil speculators and stockbrokers only down together not only distorted the all american game of life in nineteen twenty nine to stop the game altogether only was there no fair play there was no play at all red lines below those marches an apple sours we only games in town less one one one went to washington with a plan and a blueprint for society the new deal i should in the era of social engineering which has by now become by far america's largest industry and big government the nation's largest employer in the meantime nora war two and in the years thereafter america fought continuously to save the world for global markets business grew large larger multinational imperial organized labor wielded unlimited power are shut down industry cities towns in the nation's entire transportation
not to mention his major sports events and mass media campaign well economists can only speak plainly about the possibilities of countervailing power in general all around afterwards do increasing productivity for it in the post war world where will democracy has faced overwhelming challenge is not the least of which is the almost complete obscuring of the individual in a computerized database perhaps the ultimate gay how computerized maze which has resulted was almost completely alienation from human society as he used to think it existed our best novelists most recently been profits of paranoia or which even they are rapidly losing to journalists our best artists have given up trying to communicate altogether satire and black you're the language and discourse even in the mass media a liberal democracy
sometimes center produced in the words of ts eliot about civilization for striking resemblance is complex brittle selfish british empire for and yet because of two hundred years of struggle for human independence two hundred years of liberal democracy we know more we know for example that liberty and democracy and a good his principles as they play some and not others anywhere on the globe we know that over bigger presses the government to far flung corporation la reunion media network is no good man unless it is responsible to him it is not a risk public are a thing of the people no there are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness an apostle our economics efficiency and that abundance not shared is not democracy or even humane we know the enormous costs of achieving and sustaining life and liberty for each and every individual toward
peace we know that liberty depends upon mutuality and their dependents in and selfishness says weimann form societies and government in our communities in the first place we live continuously with novelty in a revolutionary heritage and sui know the value of flexibility we are pragmatists and that we asked two absolutes and systems for their own sake we just recess to new situations and we make high culture are returning incredible amounts of data into meaningful information and we espouse the ethic of democracy the more informed people who participate in the decision making process but better we're not a folk culture taking refuge an outmoded totems and wearing your tours a revolution or at least have sense enough to struggle hard to bring unchecked power or we see it under the control of the people in the stands or c is alive and well in this way one listens
closely the echoes of that sentiment can be heard everywhere especially when i exclusively among the youth these in the echoes not certainly of the trumpets of jubilee of the battle hymn of the republic and graham determined song which is always with those were celebrations like this bicentennial should serve to remind yourself from time to time wayne gets when he was your prize winning historian from the university of texas at austin speaking about two hundred years of liberal democracy in america this was the first in a series of lectures which will be heard in subsequent weeks in this programme lectures presented as ut austin's principal commemoration of the nine states bicentennial chairman of the ut austin bicentennial committee stanley are ross lecture series coordinator we're livingston you've been listening to university forum producer still at war this program was produced by katie fm in association with the texas education and media project and distributed by communication center university of texas at austin
no oh leno this is the longhorn radio network
- Producing Organization
- KUT Radio /Longhorn Radio Network
- Contributing Organization
- KUT Radio (Austin, Texas)
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- cpb-aacip/529-2v2c825h7t
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- Description
- Episode Description
- William Goetzmann discusses America's idependence and liberty since the Revolution
- Created Date
- 1976-02-09
- Asset type
- Program
- Topics
- Education
- Subjects
- American History
- Rights
- Unknown
- Media type
- Sound
- Duration
- 00:27:27
- Credits
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Copyright Holder: KUT
Producing Organization: KUT Radio /Longhorn Radio Network
Speaker: William Goetzmann
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KUT Radio
Identifier: KUT_000331 (KUT Radio)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Generation: Master: preservation
Duration: 00:27:25
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- Citations
- Chicago: “200 Years of Liberal Democracy in America, Part 2,” 1976-02-09, KUT Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed September 11, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-529-2v2c825h7t.
- MLA: “200 Years of Liberal Democracy in America, Part 2.” 1976-02-09. KUT Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. September 11, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-529-2v2c825h7t>.
- APA: 200 Years of Liberal Democracy in America, Part 2. Boston, MA: KUT Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-529-2v2c825h7t