Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower
During their public careers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were bitter rivals. But, once they retired from politics, the two men became devoted friends and trusted confidants. Their collected correspondence offers an altogether unique perspective of America’s Founding Era. The two great pioneers who had a hand in shaping the hopes, aspirations, and eventually the political realities of their new nation’s experiment in liberty had a perspective that very few others could have.
In 1815 Adams wrote to Jefferson. He was concerned that what they had worked all their lives for and fought so sacrificially for might somehow now be forgotten or neglected or overlooked in the young nation’s rush to modernization and prosperity. He wrote, “What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the Revolution. It was only an effect and a consequence of it.”
Adams and Jefferson both understood that America represented something far more significant than mere independence. The American Dream was something far more substantial than mere material gain. Now nearing the end of their lives, they wanted to make certain that future generations would understand that American culture was the fruit of something far more than their shared political, economic, and military aspirations.
This notion is what G. K. Chesterton was describing when he quipped, “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed.” Other nations find their identity and cohesion in ethnicity, or geography, or partisan ideology, or cultural tradition. But America was founded on certain ideas—ideas about freedom, about human dignity, and about social responsibility. It was this profound peculiarity that most struck Alexis de Tocqueville during his famous visit to this land at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He called it “American Exceptionalism.”
About the same time de Tocqueville penned his sage observations in his classic book, Democracy in America, educators in the fledgling republic began to realize that if their great experiment in liberty, their extraordinary American Exceptionalism were to be maintained over the course of succeeding generations, then an informed patriotism would have to be instilled in the hearts and minds of the young. Indeed, John Quincy Adams, the remarkable son of John Adams, wrote, “Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.”
Thus, from the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth, rising citizens were presented with small handbooks—brief guides to the essential elements of the American creed. Pastors, statesmen, educators, and parents wanted to somehow pass on to posterity the moral and constitutional tools necessary to make good use of their freedom.
Over the past few years I have tried to collect a representative sample of such handbooks—scouring dusty antiquarian bookshops, libraries, and academic collections whenever and wherever I could. Though they varied somewhat over the years in presentation, style, and format, it appears that each was designed to be an introductory and documentary record of the development, confirmation, and establishment of the exceptional American creed. They were offered to the ever-changing citizenry in the hope that the never-changing principles of freedom might be fully comprehended and defended against any and all incursions.
This new edition of The American Patriot’s Handbook is an updated version of that vaunted tradition. Containing a concise introduction to the foundational ideas, documents, events, and personalities of American freedom, it is a citizenship primer for a whole new generation of American patriots.
Divided into four chronological sections, the texts, profiles, and samples were selected for their representativeness, not for their comprehensiveness. Part I documents the early settlement of American shores by the colonists. It describes the motivations and innovations of their pioneering efforts—efforts that eventually led to the extraordinary freedoms we enjoy today. Part II details the establishment of American independence. Though much of this story has been well documented in our national lore, it is a story well worth repeating. Part III surveys the growing pains of America’s quick territorial expansion across the continent and its quick economic ascendancy around the world. Here we witness the birth of modernity and the shape of the world we have come to know. Part IV brings the story of American freedom up to date with a documentary snapshot of the modern era—including the titanic struggle to uphold the American creed amidst the fierce onslaught of contemporary controversy.
Alexis de Tocqueville has oft been quoted—perhaps apocryphally—saying:
I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.
This anthology of historical and citizenship resources is offered in the hope that the ideas that made America both great and good may once again become the common currency of our national life. It is offered in the hope that the secret of our genius and power might be broadcast far and wide—and thus, essentially cease to be a secret.