The parochialism implied by the title of West’s book and reflected in much of its content contrasts with the universality of the founders’ rhetoric and with the timelessly applicable ideas of natural rights and the natural law. The Political Theory of the American Founding is a remarkable, important, and impressive book. It is a decisive […]
From the Editor: The Declaration of Independence and the History of Ideas
The Declaration echoed the united voices of the ancients and moderns on the idea of nature’s relevance for politics, and highlighted the constructive character of preceding European political thought. Historians of political thought tend to focus their scholarly powers on showing how important particular lines of influence were to the Declaration’s background at the expense […]
