John Taylor of Caroline
Encyclopedia
John Taylor usually called John Taylor of Caroline was a politician and writer. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates
(1779–81, 1783–85, 1796–1800) and in the United States Senate
(1792–94, 1803, 1822–24). He wrote several books on politics and agriculture. He was a Jeffersonian Democrat
and his works provided inspiration to the later states' rights
and libertarian
movements. Sheldon and Hill (2008) locate Taylor at the intersection of republicanism
and classical liberalism
. They see his position as a "combination of a concern with Lockean
natural rights
, freedom, and limited government along with a classical interest in strong citizen participation in rule to prevent concentrated power and wealth, political corruption, and financial manipulation" (p. 224).
Taylor opposed a strong national government:
, a leading Virginia politician, lawyer and judge. He attended Donald Robertson's Academy with fellow students: James Madison
(a distant cousin), and George Rogers Clark
. Taylor attended the College of William and Mary
and then studied law at his uncle's office. He served in the Continental Army
during the American Revolutionary War
, rising to the rank of colonel, and serving under Patrick Henry
and General William Woodford
, and leading a regiment under the Marquis de Lafayette.
After the war Taylor lived as a lawyer, planter and part-time politician, serving in the Virginia legislature and appointed to complete three unexpired terms in the U.S. Senate. In 1783, he married his cousin, Lucy Penn, daughter of John Penn of North Carolina, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Tertium Quids
who believed that Jefferson and Madison had sacrificed true republican principles. While the Quids opposed some of Jefferson's policies, Taylor's judgment of Jefferson had been generous. In 1804, Taylor issued a pamphlet entitled, "A Defence of the Measures of the Administration of Thomas Jefferson." Jefferson and Taylor had long agreed on many things. In fact, from Jefferson's perspective, they agreed on almost everything. James Madison
and John Marshall
were Taylor's most prominent adversaries, as they "distorted the record [of the founding] in an effort to justify a more energetic central authority." In 1808, Taylor opposed the election of Madison as President and supported James Monroe
instead.
Taylor served as the first president of the Virginia Agricultural Society and was a lifetime member of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture.
describes Taylor as "the systematic philosopher of Jeffersonian democracy
," and as "representing 'both a conservative allegiance to local community and inherited ways and a radical-populist
suspicion of capitalism
, ‘progress,’ government and routine logrolling
politics.'" According to historian Adam L. Tate, Taylor was "an agrarian
who 'viewed happiness as possession of family, farm, and leisure,' had no great love for organized religion, social hierarchy, and other such traditional institutions." "Taylor took solid liberal ground in holding that men were a mixture of good and evil. Self-interest was the only real constant in human action. . . . . Indeed, while other thinkers, from Thomas Jefferson
to Federalist John Adams
, agonized over the need for a virtuous citizenry, Taylor took the view that 'the principles of a society may be virtuous, though the individuals composing it are vicious.'" Taylor's solution to the effects of factionalism was to "remove the base from under the stock jobbers, the banks, the paper money party, the tariff-supported manufacturers, and so on; destroy the system of patronage by which the executive has corrupted the legislature; bring down the usurped authority of the Supreme Court." "The more a nation depends for its liberty on the qualities of individuals, the less likely it is to retain it. By expecting publick good from private virtue, we expose ourselves to publick evils from private vices."
s.
"Negro slavery is a misfortune to agriculture, incapable of removal, and only within the reach of palliation." Taylor criticized Thomas Jefferson
's ambivalence towards slavery in Notes on the State of Virginia
. Taylor agreed with Jefferson that the institution was an evil, but took issue with Jefferson's repeated references to the specific cruelties of slavery, arguing that "slaves are docile, useful and happy, if they are well managed," and that "the individual is restrained by his property in the slave, and susceptible of humanity . . . . Religion assails him both with her blandishments and terrours. It indissolubly binds his, and his slaves happiness or misery together." "The possibility that slaveholding may have had the kind of positive effects on a republican society that Taylor believes it often did has been reconsidered recently by Edmund S. Morgan. Taylor's approach, defending the preservation of slavery under the circumstances and apprehensions of his day, was used to support later and more emphatic defenses of slavery by writers, such as John C. Calhoun
, Edmund Ruffin
, and George Fitzhugh
, who extended the argument by claiming the institution to be a "positive good."
--show how seriously he took the reserved rights [interposition (nullification) and secession] of these primary political communities [the States]." Taylor was responsible for guiding the Virginia Resolution, written by James Madison
, through the Virginia legislature. He wrote: "enormous political power invariably accumulates enormous wealth and enormous wealth invariably accumulates enormous political power." "Like his radical bourgeois counterparts in England, Taylor would not concede that great extremes of wealth and poverty were natural outcomes of differences in talent; on the contrary they were invariably the result of extra-economic coercion and deceit." "Along with John Randolph of Roanoke
and a few others, Taylor opposed Madison's War of 1812--his own party's war--precisely because it was a war for empire."
and is on the National Register of Historic Places
.
Taylor County, West Virginia
was formed in 1844 and named in Senator Taylor's honor.
The last three books listed "are to be valued chiefly for their insight into federal-state relations and the true nature of the Union." M. E. Bradford, ed., Arator 35 (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1977).
The above publication notations are credited to F. Thornton Miller, ed., Tyranny Unmasked, Foreword ix-xxii (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1992).
From Reprints of Legal Classics (1)
Virginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbered years. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is elected from among the...
(1779–81, 1783–85, 1796–1800) and in the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
(1792–94, 1803, 1822–24). He wrote several books on politics and agriculture. He was a Jeffersonian Democrat
Jeffersonian democracy
Jeffersonian Democracy, so named after its leading advocate Thomas Jefferson, is a term used to describe one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The term was commonly used to refer to the Democratic-Republican Party which Jefferson...
and his works provided inspiration to the later states' rights
States' rights
States' rights in U.S. politics refers to political powers reserved for the U.S. state governments rather than the federal government. It is often considered a loaded term because of its use in opposition to federally mandated racial desegregation...
and libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
movements. Sheldon and Hill (2008) locate Taylor at the intersection of republicanism
Republicanism in the United States
Republicanism is the political value system that has been a major part of American civic thought since the American Revolution. It stresses liberty and inalienable rights as central values, makes the people as a whole sovereign, supports activist government to promote the common good, rejects...
and classical liberalism
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....
. They see his position as a "combination of a concern with Lockean
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
natural rights
Natural rights
Natural and legal rights are two types of rights theoretically distinct according to philosophers and political scientists. Natural rights are rights not contingent upon the laws, customs, or beliefs of any particular culture or government, and therefore universal and inalienable...
, freedom, and limited government along with a classical interest in strong citizen participation in rule to prevent concentrated power and wealth, political corruption, and financial manipulation" (p. 224).
Taylor opposed a strong national government:
In the creation of the federal government, the states exercised the highest act of sovereigntySovereigntySovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
, and they may, if they please, repeat the proof of their sovereignty, by its annihilation. But the union possesses no innate sovereignty, like the states; it was not self-constituted; it is conventional, and of course subordinate to the sovereignties by which it was formed -- John Taylor of Caroline
Career
Taylor was orphaned as a small child. He was adopted by a maternal uncle, Edmund PendletonEdmund Pendleton
Edmund Pendleton was a Virginia politician, lawyer and judge, active in the American Revolutionary War. -Early years:...
, a leading Virginia politician, lawyer and judge. He attended Donald Robertson's Academy with fellow students: James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
(a distant cousin), and George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...
. Taylor attended the College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
and then studied law at his uncle's office. He served in the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, rising to the rank of colonel, and serving under Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
and General William Woodford
William Woodford
William Woodford was an American Revolutionary War general from Virginia.He was born in Caroline County, Virginia, in a town now known as Woodford. He served in the French and Indian War as an ensign in Colonel George Washington's Virginia Regiment, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1761...
, and leading a regiment under the Marquis de Lafayette.
After the war Taylor lived as a lawyer, planter and part-time politician, serving in the Virginia legislature and appointed to complete three unexpired terms in the U.S. Senate. In 1783, he married his cousin, Lucy Penn, daughter of John Penn of North Carolina, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Tertium Quids
Tertium quids
The tertium quids refers to various factions of the American Democratic-Republican Party during the period 1804–1812. In Latin, tertium quid means "a third something"...
who believed that Jefferson and Madison had sacrificed true republican principles. While the Quids opposed some of Jefferson's policies, Taylor's judgment of Jefferson had been generous. In 1804, Taylor issued a pamphlet entitled, "A Defence of the Measures of the Administration of Thomas Jefferson." Jefferson and Taylor had long agreed on many things. In fact, from Jefferson's perspective, they agreed on almost everything. James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
and John Marshall
John Marshall
John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...
were Taylor's most prominent adversaries, as they "distorted the record [of the founding] in an effort to justify a more energetic central authority." In 1808, Taylor opposed the election of Madison as President and supported James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
instead.
Taylor served as the first president of the Virginia Agricultural Society and was a lifetime member of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture.
Ideas
English legal historian M.J.C. Vile views Taylor as "in some ways the most impressive political theorist that America has produced." Historian Clyde N. WilsonClyde N. Wilson
Clyde N. Wilson is a professor of history at the University of South Carolina, U.S., a paleoconservative political commentator, a long-time contributing editor for Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture and Southern Partisan magazine, and an occasional contributor to National Review...
describes Taylor as "the systematic philosopher of Jeffersonian democracy
Jeffersonian democracy
Jeffersonian Democracy, so named after its leading advocate Thomas Jefferson, is a term used to describe one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The term was commonly used to refer to the Democratic-Republican Party which Jefferson...
," and as "representing 'both a conservative allegiance to local community and inherited ways and a radical-populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
suspicion of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, ‘progress,’ government and routine logrolling
Logrolling
Logrolling is the trading of favors, or quid pro quo, such as vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member...
politics.'" According to historian Adam L. Tate, Taylor was "an agrarian
Agrarianism
Agrarianism has two common meanings. The first meaning refers to a social philosophy or political philosophy which values rural society as superior to urban society, the independent farmer as superior to the paid worker, and sees farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values...
who 'viewed happiness as possession of family, farm, and leisure,' had no great love for organized religion, social hierarchy, and other such traditional institutions." "Taylor took solid liberal ground in holding that men were a mixture of good and evil. Self-interest was the only real constant in human action. . . . . Indeed, while other thinkers, from Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
to Federalist John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
, agonized over the need for a virtuous citizenry, Taylor took the view that 'the principles of a society may be virtuous, though the individuals composing it are vicious.'" Taylor's solution to the effects of factionalism was to "remove the base from under the stock jobbers, the banks, the paper money party, the tariff-supported manufacturers, and so on; destroy the system of patronage by which the executive has corrupted the legislature; bring down the usurped authority of the Supreme Court." "The more a nation depends for its liberty on the qualities of individuals, the less likely it is to retain it. By expecting publick good from private virtue, we expose ourselves to publick evils from private vices."
Slavery
Taylor wrote in defense of slavery, although he admitted it was wrong. "Let it not be supposed that I approve of slavery because I do not aggravate its evils, or prefer a policy which must terminate in a war of extermination." Rather, he defended the institution because he "thought blacks incapable of liberty." Taylor feared that widespread emancipation would ultimately, and invariably in his view, lead to the horrific bloodshed witnessed in the French colony of Santo Domingo in 1791, the site of the greatest of all successful slave insurrections. "Taylor is one with most American thinkers from Washington to Jefferson to Lincoln in doubting that the free Negro could ever be anything but a problem for American politics . . . ." Thus, he advocated the deportation of free African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s.
"Negro slavery is a misfortune to agriculture, incapable of removal, and only within the reach of palliation." Taylor criticized Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
's ambivalence towards slavery in Notes on the State of Virginia
Notes on the State of Virginia
Notes on the State of Virginia was a book written by Thomas Jefferson. He completed the first edition in 1781, and updated and enlarged the book in 1782 and 1783...
. Taylor agreed with Jefferson that the institution was an evil, but took issue with Jefferson's repeated references to the specific cruelties of slavery, arguing that "slaves are docile, useful and happy, if they are well managed," and that "the individual is restrained by his property in the slave, and susceptible of humanity . . . . Religion assails him both with her blandishments and terrours. It indissolubly binds his, and his slaves happiness or misery together." "The possibility that slaveholding may have had the kind of positive effects on a republican society that Taylor believes it often did has been reconsidered recently by Edmund S. Morgan. Taylor's approach, defending the preservation of slavery under the circumstances and apprehensions of his day, was used to support later and more emphatic defenses of slavery by writers, such as John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun
John Caldwell Calhoun was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent...
, Edmund Ruffin
Edmund Ruffin
Edmund Ruffin was a farmer and slaveholder, a Confederate soldier, and an 1850s political activist. He advocated states' rights, secession, and slavery and was described by opponents as one of the Fire-Eaters. He was an ardent supporter of the Confederacy and a longstanding enemy of the North...
, and George Fitzhugh
George Fitzhugh
George Fitzhugh was an American social theorist who published racial and slavery-based sociological theories in the antebellum era. He argued that "the negro is but a grown up child" who needs the economic and social protections of slavery...
, who extended the argument by claiming the institution to be a "positive good."
States' rights
"Taylor's role in pushing for Virginia's secession at the time of the Alien and Sedition Acts, and his role in the Republican response--the Kentucky and Virginia ResolutionsKentucky and Virginia Resolutions
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799, in which the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures took the position that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional...
--show how seriously he took the reserved rights [interposition (nullification) and secession] of these primary political communities [the States]." Taylor was responsible for guiding the Virginia Resolution, written by James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, through the Virginia legislature. He wrote: "enormous political power invariably accumulates enormous wealth and enormous wealth invariably accumulates enormous political power." "Like his radical bourgeois counterparts in England, Taylor would not concede that great extremes of wealth and poverty were natural outcomes of differences in talent; on the contrary they were invariably the result of extra-economic coercion and deceit." "Along with John Randolph of Roanoke
John Randolph of Roanoke
John Randolph , known as John Randolph of Roanoke, was a planter and a Congressman from Virginia, serving in the House of Representatives , the Senate , and also as Minister to Russia...
and a few others, Taylor opposed Madison's War of 1812--his own party's war--precisely because it was a war for empire."
Legacy
Taylor's primary plantation estate, Hazelwood, was located three miles from Port Royal, VirginiaPort Royal, Virginia
Port Royal is an incorporated town in Caroline County, Virginia, United States. The population was 170 at the 2000 census.Port Royal was established in the mid-17th century in the Colony of Virginia primary as a port on a navigable portion of the Rappahannock River for export of tobacco, Virginia's...
and is on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Taylor County, West Virginia
Taylor County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 16,089 people, 6,320 households, and 4,487 families residing in the county. The population density was 93 people per square mile . There were 7,125 housing units at an average density of 41 per square mile...
was formed in 1844 and named in Senator Taylor's honor.
Writings of John Taylor of Caroline
- An Enquiry into the Principles and Tendency of Certain Public Measures (Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1794).
- A Definition of Parties: Or the Political Effects of the Paper System Considered (Philadelphia: Francis Bailey, 1794).
- Arator (1818) (first published as a book in 1813 (without attribution) from a collection of sixty-four essays, originally published in a Georgetown newspaper in 1803, which pertain to American agriculture, including some of Taylor's views on slavery).
- A Defence of the Measures of the Administration of Thomas Jefferson, attributed to "Curtius" (1804).
- A Pamphlet Containing a Series of Letters (Richmond: E. C. Stanard, 1809).
- An Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the Government of the United States (1814) - a detailed and elaborate critique of the political-philosophical system developed and defended by John AdamsJohn AdamsJohn Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
in his Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America (1787). - Construction Construed and Constitutions Vindicated (Richmond: Shepherd and Pollard, 1820).
- Tyranny Unmasked (Washington: Davis and Force, 1822).
- New Views of the Constitution of the United States (Washington: Way and Gideon, 1823).
The last three books listed "are to be valued chiefly for their insight into federal-state relations and the true nature of the Union." M. E. Bradford, ed., Arator 35 (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1977).
The above publication notations are credited to F. Thornton Miller, ed., Tyranny Unmasked, Foreword ix-xxii (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1992).
From Reprints of Legal Classics (1)
- "Little-known today, Taylor's work is of great significance in the political and intellectual history of the South and is essential for understanding the constitutional theories that Southerners asserted to justify secessionSecessionSecession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
in 1861. Taylor fought in the Continental army during the American Revolution and served briefly in the VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
House of DelegatesHouse of DelegatesThe House of Delegates is the name given to the lower house of the legislature in three U.S. states – Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.House of Delegates may also refer to:...
and as a U.S. Senator. It was as a writer on constitutional, political, and agricultural questions, however, that Taylor gained prominence. He joined with Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
and other agrarian advocates of states' rightsStates' rightsStates' rights in U.S. politics refers to political powers reserved for the U.S. state governments rather than the federal government. It is often considered a loaded term because of its use in opposition to federally mandated racial desegregation...
and a strict construction of the ConstitutionConstitutionA constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
in the political battles of the 1790s. His first published writings argued against Secretary of the Treasury Alexander HamiltonAlexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
's financial program. Construction Construed and Constitutions Vindicated was Taylor's response to a series of post-War of 1812War of 1812The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
developments including John MarshallJohn MarshallJohn Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...
's Supreme Court decision in McCulloch v. MarylandMcCulloch v. MarylandMcCulloch v. Maryland, , was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland...
, the widespread issuance of paper moneyPaper MoneyPaper Money is the second album by the band Montrose. It was released in 1974 and was the band's last album to feature Sammy Hagar as lead vocalist.-History:...
by banks, proposals for a protective tariff, and the attempt to bar slavery from Missouri. Along with many other Southerners, Taylor feared that these and other measures following in the train of Hamilton's financial system, were undermining the foundations of American republicanismRepublicanism in the United StatesRepublicanism is the political value system that has been a major part of American civic thought since the American Revolution. It stresses liberty and inalienable rights as central values, makes the people as a whole sovereign, supports activist government to promote the common good, rejects...
. He saw them as the attempt of an "artificial capitalist sect" to corrupt the virtue of the American people and upset the proper constitutional balance between state and federal authority in favor of a centralized national government. Taylor wrote, "If the means to which the government of the union may resort for executing the power confided to it, are unlimited, it may easily select such as will impair or destroy the powers confided to the state governments." Jefferson, who noted that "Col. Taylor and myself have rarely, if ever, differed in any political principle of importance," considered Construction Construed and Constitutions Vindicated "the most logical retraction of our governments to the original and true principles of the Constitution creating them, which has appeared since the adoption of the instrument." Later Southern thinkers, notably John C. CalhounJohn C. CalhounJohn Caldwell Calhoun was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent...
, were clearly indebted to Taylor." - - Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America 94486.
- - Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 6333.(21527)
Suggested reading
- Mudge, Eugene T. The Social Philosophy of John Taylor of Caroline (New York: Columbia University Press 1939).
- Shallhope, Robert E. John Taylor of Caroline: Pastoral Republican (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1980).
External links
- Taylor, John. (1823). "New Views of the Constitution of the United States
- Taylor, John. (1821). "Tyranny Unmasked"
- Taylor, John. (1820). "Construction Construed and Constitutions Vindicated"
- John Taylor's works at the Online Library of LibertyLiberty FundLiberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established and headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. It is dedicated to the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals...
.