John Taylor of Caroline: Pastoral Republican

John Taylor of Caroline is largely unknown these days yet in the 1780s thru the 1820s he was one of our most influential political theorists and commentators on the Constitution. His contributions to the pamphlet wars of the 1790s helped clarify the differences between the emerging Jeffersonian opposition and the positions of Hamilton, Adams and other Federalists. Later, starting with the publication of Arator and continuing through to his New Views on the Constitution, John Taylor developed a powerful variant of the so-called South Atlantic Republicanism. Taylor's philosophy (a powerful mix of state's rights, an emphasis on the rights of the {white} individual, Adam Smith's economic theories, veneration of farming and a fear of the "monied" interests) was influential for decades. It is difficult to read deeply in the history of the early republic without having to deal with Taylor's ideas and influence. In particular, I would think it very difficult to understand or appreciate antebellum Southern culture without an understanding of Taylor. But, I am going to assert, there is a darn good reason that his philosophy has been largely forgotten by all but the most fervid state's right advocate. Simply put, Taylor's particular form of republicanism is based on his ideas about the agrarian life and that is based on his views on slavery. More on that later. The book under review by Robert Shalhope is a form of intellectual biography. Shalhope is a great and influential historian (it is impossible to read contemporary academic history of the period and not see his name cited). Shalhope assumes that the reader is largely familiar with the great public events of Taylor's time and makes little effort to relate those events (if you need the background reading try Miller's The Federalist Era and Smelser's The Democratic Republic for solid, short intros). Shalhope gives the broad outlines of Taylor's life- enough to see that on the personal level he was a sympathetic and very upright man (given his own morality). Mostly Shalhope is interested in exploring how the structure of Virginia life impacted Taylor's thought and vice versa. Along the way, he gives excellent summaries of all of Taylor's writings. Shalhope sees those writings as having a thematic arc that takes Taylor's thought from a form of "Revolutionary republicanism, once held in common with the larger national community, to a sectional ideology" (p.9). The earlier phase of Taylor's thought is explicated in his "An Enquiry into the Principles and Tendency of Certain Public Measures". Taylor claimed that the following six principles were fundamental: 1. The Constitution established a republican form of government. 2. Congress has the power to tax only for the public good-not for the good of private persons. 3. The ultimate legitimacy of any legislation is derived from the people... 4. which was regularly delegated by elections to representatives. 5. A representative was legit only as long as he wa