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.
| Place | City | |
|---|---|---|
| Kings Mountain National Military Park | Blacksburg | This 3,945 acre park commemorates the 1780 battle between colonialists — Patriot vs. Loyalist with no British involved. |
| Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site | Camden | The 107-acre site includes the town of 18th century Camden, the Joseph Kershaw mansion — headquarters for Lord Cornwallis — and more. Fourteen battles of the Revolution were fought in the area. |
| Drayton Hall | Charleston | The mansion, built 1738-42, was the birthplace of patriot William Henry Drayton. |
| Middleton Place | Charleston | Well-preserved eighteenth century plantation with America's oldest landscaped gardens; the house dates to the late 1730s. |
| Old Slave Mart Museum | Charleston | Opened in 2007, the museum offers a narrative history of slavery in the U.S. The building, formerly Ryan’s Mart, was an actual showroom where slaves were bought and sold. |
| Cowpens National Battlefield | Chesnee | A pasturing area at the time of the battle, the site covers 845 acres and is preserved to its 1781 appearance. |
| Charles Pinckney National Historic Site | Mount Pleasant | Charles Pinckney was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a governor; the 28-acre site is just a remnant of Pinckney's 715-acre coastal plantation, Snee Farm. |
| Ninety Six National Historic Site | Nintey Six | Commemorates two Revolutionary War battles and includes the original 1781 Star Fort, historic roads, the original town sites of Ninety Six & Cambridge, the reconstructed Stockade Fort, and siege trenches. |
The Idea of America: Reflections on the Birth of the United States (2011)