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The Political Philosophy of Young Charles A. Beard1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Bernard C. Borning
Affiliation:
University of Idaho

Extract

In 1934, Harold J. Laski wrote of Charles A. Beard: “It is true that he has formulated no consistent or systematic philosophy of politics; none has been formulated in the America of our time. But it is clear that the day for such a formulation is rapidly approaching. When it comes, I believe it will be found that no one has made a more solid contribution than Charles Beard to the elements from which it will have to be fashioned.”

It is likely that most Americans of academic bent, whether they have actually read the book or not, are aware of the stir once created by An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. Certainly they could hardly have avoided some part of that flood of articles, books, and reviews which for decades has poured from the pen of Beard. Whether or not his writings have contributed to the building of an American “philosophy of politics,” it seems obvious that college youth in unknown number, scholars, and Americans in many walks of life must in some degree have been influenced by Beard in various subtle or indirect ways. The very bulk and range of his writings make it highly probable. For a check of the card catalog in a large university library, plus an examination of the Library of Congress bibliography and a few other sources, yields a total of about sixty first-edition volumes with Beard's name attached as author, co-author, or editor.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1949

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References

2 The Nation, Vol. 138, p. 479 (Apr. 25, 1934)Google Scholar.

3 The Industrial Revolution (London, Sonnenschein, 1901)Google Scholar.

4 Current Biography (1941), p. 52Google Scholar. For other biographical facts in this section, I am indebted to Herring, Hubert, “Charles A. Beard, Free Lance Among Historians”, Harper's Magazine, Vol. 178, pp. 641652 (May, 1939)Google Scholar.

5 Ibid., p. 642.

7 Office of Justice of the Peace in England (New York, Columbia University Press, c. 1904)Google Scholar.

8 Note 3 above.

9 American Government and Politics, p. 485.

10 Industrial Revolution, pp. 91–92.

11 American City Government, p. 373.

12 Documents on the State-Wide Initiative, Referendum, and Recall, p. 13; see also Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 22, p. 143Google Scholar; Digest of Short Ballot Charters, pp. 10101, 10201.

13 Industrial Revolution, p. 86.

14 Ibid., p. 89.

15 Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 21, p. 533Google Scholar; for following, see also Documents, op. cit., pp. 22–23; American Government and Politics, p. 99.

16 See Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 23, p. 146Google Scholar; Vol. 24, p. 102.

17 Documents, p. 68; see also Introduction to the English Historians, p. 2; American Government and Politics, pp. 732–733; Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 22, pp. 722723Google Scholar.

18 See Development of Modern Europe, II, pp. 375376Google Scholar; Industrial Revolution, p. 56; American Government and Politics, pp. 103, 414–415, 741–742; American City Government, pp. 218-241.

19 American Government and Politics, p. 484; see also Readings in American Government and Politics, p. 92; Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 26, p. 145Google Scholar.

20 For these and related matters, see Readings in American Government, pp. 75, 177; American Government and Politics, pp. 11, 193, 205, 239, 469–487, 492–508; Readings in Modern European History, II, p. 171Google Scholar; American City Government, pp. 52–56; Documents, pp. 3, 14, 52–55, 68–69; Digest, pp. 3000–3; Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 25, p. 529Google Scholar.

21 Industrial Revolution, p. 104; on law, see also Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 21, pp. 534535Google Scholar, Vol. 24, p. 95; American Government and Politics, p. 611; Documents, pp. 33–34.

22 Columbia University Quarterly, Vol. 12, p. 272Google Scholar. On parties and pressure groups, see also American Government and Politics, pp. 32, 99–100, 105–106, 543; American City Government, p. 75; Documents, pp. 32–33.

23 See American Government and Politics, pp. 469, 479–480, 527.

24 Documents, pp. 14–15.

25 See Industrial Revolution, pp. 51, 88; Introduction to the English Historians, pp. 307, 520, 823; Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 24, p. 165Google Scholar.

26 American Government, p. 333.

27 Documents, p. 4.

28 European Sobriety in the Presence of the Balkan Crisis (New York, 1908)Google Scholar.

29 For hints of this, see Readings in American Government, pp. 14–15; American Government and Politics, p. 75; Documents, pp. 23–25; Columbia University Quarterly, Vol. 12, p. 269Google Scholar.

30 Industrial Revolution, p. 104.

31 Ibid., pp. 18–19, 41, 104; for later views, see Introduction to the English Historians, pp. 185, 506; Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 21, pp. 111112Google Scholar; American Government and Politics, pp. 1, 34, 36; The Supreme Court and the Constitution (New York, 1912), pp. 80–81, 9597Google Scholar.

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