The Republicans Are the Nation? Thomas Jefferson,William Duane,and the Evolution of the Republican Coalition, 1809–1815

This essay explores Thomas Jefferson's early retirement political activity and binary vision of Federalism/Republicanism within the context of the broader political economic forces of the early nineteenth century. It shows that his notions of unity and legitimacy, so rooted in the life and death struggles of 1790s state building, increasingly no longer were relevant. His participation in a minor affair illuminates this point quite well. In the spring of 1811, Jefferson played a central role in a battle over loyalty, editorial prerogative, and the maintenance of party unity. It began when William Duane, book publisher, editor of the Philadelphia Aurora and long-time power broker within the coalition, sought Jefferson's help in securing funding from Virginia Republicans. Duane was facing a financial meltdown, and he hoped that the “sage of Monticello” might provide him a way out. Jefferson ultimately rejected the request in the name of party harmony, the irony of which is that Duane's “schism” reflected more of the future of the Republican movement than the harmonious nation Jefferson was hoping to preserve.     

Between Vienna,St Petersburg,and Warsaw: August Lobkowitz in Galicia, 1826–32

Abstract

This article analyses the relationships between Austrian imperial bureaucrats and the Polish elites in Habsburg Galicia during the 1820s and 1830s. Its main focus is on Prince August Lobkowitz, who was the governor of Austrian Galicia between 1826 and 1832. Even though he was a representative of the German Habsburg dynasty, with family roots in the Bohemian aristocracy, Lobkowitz switched allegiances in Galicia and declared himself a Pole. Against the instruction of his senior colleagues in Vienna, he supported the idea of an independent Poland as a buffer state between the Habsburg monarchy and the Russian Empire. Between 1828 and 1831, he maintained close contacts with Polish politicians — both in Galicia and in the Russian empire — and promised them Austrian support in the event of a Polish uprising against Russian rule. The article seeks to challenge the historiographical stereotype of a uniform Austrian bureaucracy that enforced its will upon the largely non-German elites in the Habsburg provinces.     

Redefining the Republic of Letters: The Literary Public and Mudie’s Circulating Library

In late 1860, Charles Mudie’s plans to expand his circulating library inspired his detractors and competitors to challenge the validity of his ‘right to selection’ – the process by which he chose which texts he would loan from his library. Over the next few months, prominent periodicals featured correspondence and editorials that decried or supported Mudie’s ostensible monopoly over literary exchange. While the initial argument was economic, the dispute extended beyond economics to religion, literary quality and culture. To connect these disparate fields, writers turned to the politics of interpretation: that is, whether specialists should define literary culture, or if a public comprised of individual, ‘common’ readers should determine their own standards for books. Mudie’s opponents advocated for individual readers’ right to read what they liked, how they liked. His supporters argued that the public needed specialists to guide their literary tastes. The resulting exchange about what I call the ‘literary public’ amplified conversations integral to the burgeoning field of literary studies as it was emerging in the London colleges through the 1850s and 1860s. The contributing authors, publishers and critics justified or refuted ideas foundational to the establishment of English literature as an academic study for the common reader. As part of the mid-century confrontation between popular literary consumption and academic culture, the Mudie debate helped to politicize the reception and circulation of English literature.     

Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall: What Kind of Constitution Shall We Have?

Although they were third cousins once removed—both descended from William Randolph of Turkey Island, one of the first settlers in Virginia—John Marshall and Thomas Jefferson had little familial affection for one another. During the disputed contest of 1800, the future Chief Justice felt "almost insuperable objection" to the man who eventually become the third President, declaring him "totally unfit for the chief magistracy of a nation which cannot indulge these prejudices without sustaining deep personal injury." ¹ For his part, Jefferson reciprocated, and his cousin became the embodiment of all he despised in the judiciary. He wrote of Marshall as a man of "lax lounging manners … and a profound hypocrisy." ²