The Fate of Revolutionary Republicanism in Early National Virginia

Abstract

It is now generally conceded that the existence of a widely accepted political ideology played a significant role in fomenting the American Revolution and shaping the society that it created. The development of American politics after the revolution raises questions about what happened to that ideology, and about its endurance as an influence on the political culture of the new nation. Did the ideology that inspired and explained the revolution adapt to the needs of constructing a new political order while retaining coherence, consistency, and integrity? Or was it abandoned surreptitiously by those who disguised their political reorientation by substituting rhetorical reverence for practical fidelity? The evidence of early national politics suggests that revolutionary republicanism met a variety of fates in various parts of the Union, reflecting indigenous sectional differences that had altered local understandings of republicanism all along, and which in turn contributed to the sectional nature of national politics thereafter. There were a variety of understandings of what the revolution had been about, and of what the goals of the new nation ought to be. There was, however, one consistent pattern. Claims of fidelity to revolutionary heritage became a necessary part of any attempt to establish political legitimacy, and remain so to the present day. The fate of revolutionary republicanism demands careful examination. This essay attempts to suggest what happened to it in Virginia by describing its character in 1798 when it took a unique and fateful