Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America

by Edmund S. Morgan

"The best explanation that I have seen for our distinctive combination of faith, hope and naiveté concerning the governmental process." ―Michael Kamman, Washington Post This book makes the provocative case here that America has remained politically stable because the Founding Fathers invented the idea of the American people and used it to impose a government on the new nation. His landmark analysis shows how the notion of popular sovereignty―the unexpected offspring of an older, equally fictional notion, the "divine right of kings"―has worked in our history and remains a political force today.

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

320 pages, Paperback

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