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Sentimental Democracy

The Evolution of America's Romantic Self-Image

Andrew Burstein

Hill and Wang, 1999

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Recommendation

Andrew Burstein’s book reveals an obscure but important thread in U.S. cultural history. His discussion of the "Man of Feeling" and the culture of sensibility provides important background for understanding the American Revolutionary period. Since documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States often are read out of context (if they are read at all), Burstein helps you understand what they meant to their contemporaries. Burstein is almost too thorough in surveying 18th and 19th century literature for examples, and the book is slow going at times. But he also tries to show how these ideas persist in America’s self-image. His contemporary analysis is skimpy, though - such as his attempt to explain Hollywood screenwriting conventions in terms of sentimental democracy. However, getAbstract.com recommends this book to anyone who wants to understand some of the subtleties behind the events of early American history.

Summary

Sentiment and Sympathy: Beginnings

Though little remembered, the 1770 novel The Man of Feeling provides a glimpse of how America’s self-image evolved. It illustrates that an enlightened society can use positive passion and sympathetic imagination to advance justice and cure its ills. Today, people in the U.S. point to the Constitution and the rule of law as centerpieces of their love of liberty. But the culture of "sensibility" still is important. The emotional history of the United States from 1750 to 1828 illuminates a period during which Americans fell in love with the idea of America.

Almost any attempt to define America’s identity traces to the Revolutionary War and its rhetoric. The dominant emotional forces at that time were sentiment and sympathy. People feared temptation and "base" passions. They sought to balance rationality and sentiment, believing reason would guide sentiment to good judgments.

People were expected to demonstrate their sensibility and, most important, to be sympathetic to others. Leaders brought that depth of feeling to public life. In a philosophy that unfolded over the decades, sensibility was the key to moderate, moral behavior...

About the Author

Andrew Burstein graduated from Columbia College and received an M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of Michigan. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1994. He has taught U.S. history at several colleges and is the author of The Inner Jefferson

Sentimental Democracy

The Evolution of America's Romantic Self-Image

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Sentiment and Sympathy: Beginnings

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