When it was first published twenty-five years ago, this classic work of political theory gained notoriety because
neither its approach nor its interpretations readily fit into any of the major schools of thought dealing with
the American political tradition. More significantly, its arguments challenged core tenets of what had become received
wisdom concerning the roots of our political beliefs and institutions. Willmoore Kendall and George W. Carey argue
that a new, largely contrived political tradition has gained currency in many legal, academic, and political circles.
This new tradition, set forth by Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address, holds that our fundamental political ideas
are derived from the Bill of Rights and the "all men are created equal" clause of the Declaration of
Independence. Proponents of this view not only champion individual rights but also believe that the achievement
of a broadly defined equality represents a binding but as yet unfulfilled promise made by the American people in
the Declaration.
In the present work, Kendall and Carey instead maintain that one must look to the founding era and its key documents
in order to understand our indigenous political tradition. In so doing, one sees that the right of the people to
govern themselves, rather than the concept of individual rights, is at the heart of the American political tradition.
Using the analytical approach developed by Eric Voegelin, the authors examine the documents that are vital to an
understanding of our political origins: the Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the Massachusetts
Body of Liberties, the Virginia Bill of Rights, the Constitution itself, and the Federalist Papers. At the same
time, they consider questions highly relevant to the subsequent course of American political development. This
thought-provoking book contributes important arguments to the fundamental debate over the place of equality in
our political self-understanding. It will continue to be of immense interest to all serious students of American
political thought. At the time of his death Willmoore Kendall was chairman of the department of economics and politics
at the University of Dallas. His major writings include John Locke and the Doctrine of Majority Rule and The Conservative
Affirmation. George W. Carey is professor of government at Georgetown University and editor of The Political Science
Reviewer. He is the author of numerous works in the field of American political theory, including In Defense of
the Constitution and The Federalist: Design for a Constitutional Republic.