Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America by Morgan, Edmund S.(September 17, 1989) Paperback

by Edmund S. Morgan

"At the time when England's American colonies were founded, the fictions that sustained government--and liberty--were almost the reverse of those we accept today. Englishmen of the 16th and early 17th century affirmed that men were created unequal and that they owed obedience to government because the Creator had endowed their king with his own sacred authority. These propositions too were fictional, requiring suspension of disbelief…"How then did one [set of governing fictions] give way to the other? How did the divine right of kings give way to the sovereignty of the people? And how did the new fictions both sustain government by the few and restrain the few for the benefit of the many? In other words, how did the exercise and authentication of power in the Anglo-American world as we know it come into being?."Morgan argues, in effect, that representative democracy is a tool to bolster rule by the powerful few over the many. The majority are thus led to believe they control their own destiny. In this quietly subversive rereading of our history, American colonists perfected the fiction of popular rule by involving voters in extravagant electoral campaigns & by insisting that elected representatives derived their power from their constituents. Meanwhile, elitist colonial rulers who owned considerable property pulled strings to get their way. The idea that people are the ultimate sovereign & source of authority has justified government for three centuries in both the UK & America. This text explores how such an idea gained acceptance & how it affected both the few who governed & the many whom they governed.

Genres: History, American History, Politics, American Revolution, Nonfiction, American, Political Science

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Edmund Sears Morgan

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second Edmund Morgan book, and, as in "American Slavery, American Freedom," he is once again thorough in his research and provocative in his thesis. His argument is that all government of the many by the few (a formulation borrowed from David Hume) depends on what Morgan calls "fictions": the fiction of the divine right of kings, or the fiction of the sovereignty of the people. This book traces the transition between those two conceptions of the basis of government.

Morgan himself finds the term "fiction" troubling because of its pejorative dimensions, yet is unable to escape it. In a nutshell, that captures one of the centrals challenges this book exposes but does not address: is there a transcendent basis for the foundation of government? Even when treating the divine right of kings, in which the source of transcendence would appear obvious (God, who gives authority to a human king), Morgan appears suspicious of any appeals to what might sound like a normative authority or a grand meta narrative. On his reading of the sources, even those who argue for the divine right of kings do so not because they believe it is true so much as because they believe it is useful. Thus, while the research is impeccable and the argument sound (at one level), the aftertaste, if you will, of the whole book is a curious blend of Millsean pragmatism and postmodern cynicism.

[Jennifer Ham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe this was a revolutionary concept in 1988, but the theories of popular sovereignty discussed in this book are now dated to the point of cliche. The tedious and dense prose makes this book a slog to get through, only to realize that you haven't really gained any new insight upon completion.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing history of how politicians created the fiction of “we the people” to gain power for themselves, while ignoring what the people actually want.

[livia · Rating 4 out of 5]

fiction this fiction that... more like the fiction of my mental health #politicaltheory #thankyouoscar

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant account of how the idea of political authority resting upon the many emerged from factional disputes among the few.

[Julio César · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un buen análisis de la cuestión clásica de la teoría política de por qué las minorías pueden gobernar a las mayorías. Se apoya en la historia de Inglaterra y EEUU en los siglos XVII y XVIII, lo cual te puede dejar un poco afuera si no tenés un background (como fue mi caso). Igualmente las cuestiones generales están buenas, explica cómo se empezaron a apoyar en la ficción del "pueblo" cuando la cosa divina del Rey ya no daba. Usa muchas cartas de los próceres de la independencia yanqui (Hamilton, Madison), cosas que en el futuro ya no tendremos porque son todos Whatsapp que borrás cuando se te llena el teléfono.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is American democracy all about, anyway? This book kinda answers this question from the perspective of what sovereignty is and how the answer to that question has both changed and remained the same in the transition from the 'old world' to the 'new'.

[J. Bly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating but a little too tedious historical analysis of the sentiments in England that created the cauldron that spawned the Revolutionary War.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. Among the finest books I have ever read.

[Josh Adamek · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a second read this is really good