Revised and updated, this long-awaited second edition provides a comprehensive introduction to what the most thoughtful Americans have said about the American experience from the colonial period to the present. The book examines the political thought of the most important American statesmen, activists, and writers across era and ideologies, helping another generation of students, scholars, and citizens to understand more fully the meaning of America. This new second edition of the book includes chapters on several additional historical figures, including Walt Whitman, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Ronald Reagan, as well as a new chapter on Barack Obama, who was not prominent in public life when the first edition was published. Significant revisions and additions have also been made to many of the original chapters, most notably on Antonin Scalia, which now updates his full legacy, increasing the breadth and depth of the collection.

Introduction: Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in AmericaHarvey C. Mansfield and Delba WinthropPart One: From Colony To Nation (1608-1776)Ch. 1 John Winthrop, John Cotton, and Nathaniel Niles: The Basic Principles of Puritan Political ThoughtMichael J. RosanoCh. 2 Thomas Hutchinson and James Otis on Sovereignty, Obedience, and RebellionHoward L. LubertCh. 3 Thomas Paine: The American RadicalJohn C. KoritanskyCh. 4 Benjamin Franklin: A Model American and an American ModelSteven FordePart Two: The New Republic (1776-1820)Ch. 5 Liberty, Constitutionalism, and Moderation: George Washington's Harmonizing of TraditionsPaul O. CarreseCh. 6 John Adams and the Republic of LawsRichard SamuelsonCh. 7 Legitimate Government, Religion, and Education: The Political Philosophy of Thomas JeffersonAristide TessitoreCh. 8 The Political Science of James MadisonMichael P. ZuckertCh. 9 Alexander Hamilton on the Grand Strategy of Free GovernmentKarl-Friedrich WallingCh. 10America's Modernity: James Wilson on Natural Law and Natural RightsEduardo A. VelásquezCh. 11Anti-Federalist Political Thought: Brutus and The Federal FarmerMurray DryCh. 12The New Constitutionalism of PubliusJames R. Stoner, Jr.Ch. 13Union, Constitutionalism, and the Judicial Defense of Rights: John MarshallMatthew J. FranckPart Three: A Divided Nation (1820-1865)Ch. 14John Quincy Adams on Principle and PracticeDavid TuckerCh.15Union and Liberty: The Political Thought of Daniel WebsterSean MattieCh. 16Henry Clay and the Statesmanship of CompromiseKimberly C. ShankmanCh. 17 For Constitution and Country? John C. Calhoun, American Politics, and the UnionGeorge D. AlecusanCh. 18The Art of the Judge: Justice Joseph Story and the Founders' ConstitutionPeter SchottenCh. 19James Fenimore Cooper: Nature and Nature's GodJohn E. AlvisCh.20Religion, Nature, and Disobedience in the Thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David ThoreauBryan-Paul FrostCh.21"Proclaim Liberty throughout the Land": Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and the Abolition of SlaveryRichard S. RudermanCh. 22Abraham Lincoln: The Moderation of a Democratic StatesmanSteven KautzPart Four: Growth of an Empire (1865-1945)Ch.23 Walt Whitman and Politics by Other MeansPeter S. FieldCh. 24Feminism as an American Project: The Political Thought of Elizabeth Cady StantonMelissa S. WilliamsCh. 25Mark Twain on the American CharacterDavid FosterCh. 26Pricking the Bubble of Utopian Sentiment: The Political Thought of William Graham SumnerLance RobinsonCh. 27Booker T. Washington and the "Severe American Crucible"Peter W. SchrammCh. 28Co-workers in the Kingdom of Culture: W. E. B. Du Bois's Vision of Race SynthesisJonathan MarksC. 29Henry Adams and Our Ancient FaithChristopher FlanneryCh. 30Jane Addams as Civic Theorist: Struggling to Reconcile Competing ClaimsJean Bethke ElshtainCh. 31Herbert Croly's Progressive "Liberalism"Thomas S. EngemanCh. 32Theodore Roosevelt and the Stewardship of the American PresidencyJean M. YarbroughCh. 33Woodrow Wilson, the Organic State, and American RepublicanismRonald J. PestrittoCh. 34The Making of the Modern Supreme Court: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and Louis D. BrandeisDavid F. ForteCh. 35John Dewey's Alternative LiberalismDavid FottCh. 36Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Second Bill of RightsDonald R. BrandPart Five: New Challenges at Home and Abroad (1945-present)Ch. 37Ayn Rand: Radical for CapitalismWilliam R. ThomasCh. 38Walker Percy's American ThomismPeter Augustine LawlerCh. 39Russell Kirk's Anglo-American ConservatismJames McClellanCh. 40The Two Revolutions of Martin Luther King, Jr.Peter C. MyersCh. 41Malcolm X: From Apolitical Acolyte to Political PreacherLucas E. MorelCh. 42Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem: The Popular Transformation of American Feminism in the Late Twentieth CenturyNatalie Fuehrer Taylor and Daryl McGowan TressCh. 43"The Secret Heart of America": Lyndon Baines Johnson's Bold Synthesis of American ThoughtDaniel T. Carrigg and James A. MoroneCh. 44John Rawls's "Democratic" Theory of JusticeDavid Lewis SchaeferCh. 45Henry Kissinger: The Challenge of Statesmanship in Liberal DemocracyPeter JosephsonCh. 46Irving Kristol and the Reinvigoration of Bourgeois RepublicanismLaurence D. CooperCh. 47The Jurisprudence of William Joseph Brennan, Jr., and Thurgood MarshallBradley C. S. WatsonCh. 48Ronald Reagan: Statesman and Original Political ThinkerSteven F. HaywardCh. 49The Textualist Jurisprudence of Antonin ScaliaRalph A. RossumCh. 50"Yes, We Can": The Progressive Political Thought of Barack ObamaJeffrey SikkengaIndexAbout the Contributors