The Key of Liberty: The Life and Democratic Writings of William Manning, “a Laborer,” 1747–1814

by Merrill (editor)

The recovery of the ideas and experiences of William Manning is a major event in the history of the American Revolutionary era. A farmer, foot soldier, and political philosopher, Manning was a powerful democratic voice of the common American in a turbulent age. The public crises of the infant republic―beginning with the Battle of Concord―shaped his thinking, and his writings reveal a sinewy mind grappling with some of the weightiest issues of the nation’s founding. His most notable contribution was the first known plan for a national political association of laboring men. That plan, and Manning’s broader conclusions, open up a new vista on the popular origins of American democracy and the invention of American politics.

Until now, only a few specialists have referred to any of Manning’s writings―though always with some wonderment at his sophistication―and his place as a pioneering and exemplary American democrat has been largely unacknowledged. In this new and complete presentation of his works, the often arid debates over “republicanism” and “liberalism” in early America come to life in vivid human detail. The early growth of democratic impulses among quite ordinary people―impulses that defy orthodox categories, yet come closer to describing the ferment that led to the repeated political conflicts of the late eighteenth century―is here visible and felt. The Key of Liberty allows us a fuller understanding of the popular responses to the major political battles of the early republic, from Shays’ Rebellion through the election of Thomas Jefferson. It offers, better than any book yet published, a grassroots view of the rise of democratic opposition in the new nation. It sheds considerable light on the popular culture―literary, religious, and profane―of the epoch, with more exactness than previous histories, presenting a new interpretation of early American democracy that is bound to be controversial and much discussed.

The editors have written a lengthy and detailed introduction placing Manning and his writings in broad context. They have also modernized the text for easy use and have included full annotation, making this volume an authoritative contribution to the American Revolution and its aftermath.

Genres: History

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 1993

Reviews

[William Bahr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book while researching sources for my own book, "George Washington's Liberty Key." For Manning's important but not-so-easy book to read, I hope you'll allow my using some extensive quotes as the best way to describe it.

Earlier titled as "The Key of Libberty," Manning's work is (from its Preface) the "first-known plan for a national association of American laboring men and their political allies -- an unacknolwedged landmark in American history...a blistering critique of Federalist politics...describ[ing] the aspirations of the popular, egalitarian currents of the American Revolution and its aftermath." Manning "retained an abiding suspicion of moneyed men -- or 'capitalists,' as other contemporary writers called them -- who inevitably found that their self-interest led them to use their collective power to subvert honorable commerce, compromise democratic government, and exploit the mass of ordinary citizens. Democracy, to men like Manning, involved checking that moneyed power through legitimate political action, and then sustaining that check through popular organizations [his key of liberty]."

Here is how Wikipedia describes Manning's book: "The Key of Liberty"
"In 1798, 15 years after the end of the Revolutionary War and the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Manning wrote his most famous text, The Key of Liberty. In it, he further defined the distinction between the Few and the Many. The Few, according to him, did not produce labor, and their incomes relied primarily on interests, rents, salaries and fees fixed on the nominal value of money. He also said that they preferred money to be scarce and labor to be produced at as low of a cost as possible. Manning wrote in his text, 'For instance if the prices of labour & produce should fall one halfe if would be just the same to the few as if their rents fees & salleryes ware doubled, all which they would git out of the many.' On the other hand, Manning continued, if the Many doubled the prices of labor and produce, they would pay off their debts and enjoy not being financially dependent on the Few. Some of the biggest threats to the Many, however, were people working in the judicial and executive branches of federal government, especially lawyers. He said that they were continuously interested in having money scarce and their people in distress. The scarcer the money, they believed, the lower the cost of produce and the more distressed the people became, the better. It, therefore, not only doubled the nominal value of their fees and salaries, Manning said, but also doubled and tripled their income, forcing the people to beg for forgiveness, patience and forbearance. Manning wrote, 'This gratifyes both their pride & covetousness, when on the other hand when money is plenty & prices high they have little or nothing to do. This is the Reason why they aught to be kept intirely from the Legislative Body....' In Manning’s earlier text, an article titled 'Some Proposals,' of which he harped on his loathing of Hamilton’s financial policy, he merely explained the difference between the Few and the Many as a fight over monetary policy, whereas in Libberty, he explained it as disputes between labor, property and free government.
Throughout the text, Manning also explained that the Many feared that the Few would form an elite society backed by a federalist government that would shun the Jeffersonian Republican Party and its ideas. He encouraged the Many to not trust the government with their best interests and to elect officials that supported limited government.
Though the identification and tensions of the Few and the Many were Manning’s main points in the text, he also dedicated time to explaining key events leading to the need of such explanations. One of the events was Shays’ Rebellion, or 'On the Shais Affair in Maschusets' as noted in the text. Cycles of depression and indulgence followed the Revolutionary War, only to be exacerbated by Massachusetts’ regulation of money and debt while British creditors called in their debts from the war. Merchants turned to farmers and rural traders that could not afford to pay their debts and, in turn, put them in prison. Daniel Shays, a former leader of the revolutionary militia, responded by leading an uprising in Western Massachusetts, closing the courts and preventing seizure of property. Massachusetts Governor James Bowdoin later ordered military forces to scatter the rebels. By living in close proximity, Manning gave an eye-witness account of the experience and asked the Many to form organized groups of labor and interests to prevent such happenings in the future.
Forming such groups, in addition to voting for representatives that would fight for smaller government and the rights of the Many, is what Manning referred to as the ultimate key of libberty."

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read Written by my Many time Great Grandfather