Taming Democracy: “The People,” the Founders, and the Struggle over the American Revolution

This is a rare book—scholarly yet written with verve, readable for pleasure as well as for knowledge. It reasserts what historians have long argued: that the American gentry during the period from 1776 to roughly 1800 succeeded “at stunting the meaning and practice of democracy for ordinary white men.” Bouton's familiar arguments about “thwarted popular ideals” are drawn only from Pennsylvania. That's because the Keystone State, having gone through the most democratic revolution in 1776 and written the most democratic constitution, had turned by about 1790 and, under its second constitution, fell back under the control of the elite. Yet even if distinctive, Pennsylvania was decently representative of much of the early nation. Up to a point, therefore, Bouton's argument is convincing. What's more, he relates this disappointing history partly through the stories of individuals, like the Black Boys and Jimmy Smith, who'll be unknown even to most scholars. But like so many historians, he applauds the common people acting their democratic part while implicitly condemning the gentry for acting like gentry. This inconsistency mars an otherwise fine book. (July)