The Federalists of the 1780s had a glimpse of what America was to become — a scrambling business society dominated by the pecuniary interests of ordinary people — and they did not like what they saw. This premonition of America’s future lay behind their sense of crisis and their horrified hyperbolic rhetoric. The wholesale pursuits of private interest and private luxury were, they thought, undermining America’s capacity for republican government. They designed the Constitution in order to save American republicanism from the deadly effects of the private pursuits of happiness.
Gallery
American Artists | 6 albums
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Works by John Singleton Copley American Painter, 1738—1815 » view » |
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Works by Charles Willson Peale American Painter, 1741—1827 » view » |
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Works by Rembrandt Peale American Painter, 1778—1860 » view » |
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Works by Gilbert Stuart American Painter, 1755—1828 » view » |
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Works by John Trumbull American Painter, 1756—1843 » view » |
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Other American Artists Mather Brown • Ralph Earl • James Peale • Charles Peale Polk • William Rush • Edward Savage • Thomas Sully • John Vanderlyn • Benjamin West • Other American Works » view » |
European Artists | 8 albums
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Works by Antonio Canova Italian Sculptor, 1757—1822 » view » |
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Works by Giuseppe Ceracchi Italian Sculptor, 1751—1801 » view » |
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Works by Thomas Gainsborough English Portrait and Landscape Painter, 1727—88 » view » |
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Works by Jean-Antoine Houdon French Sculptor, 1741—1828 » view » |
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Works by Robert Edge Pine English Painter, 1730—88 » view » |
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Works by Joshua Reynolds English Portrait Painter, 1723—92 » view » |
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Works by James Sharples & Family English Painters — James (c. 1751—1811); Ellen (1769—1849); James Jr. (c. 1788—1839) » view » |
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Works by John Wollaston English Portrait Painter, c. 1710—c. 1775 » view » |
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Other European Artists Portraits of Americans, British, French, Germans, and Spanish » view » |
The Idea of America: Reflections on the Birth of the United States (2011)