It is uncanny how when you read history the same issues seem to come up over and over again. I am now reading 1688: The First Modern Revolution by Steve Pincus, a book about the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688-9 where the English Parliament took over from the King the control of government. He provides a detailed discussion of the issues and controversies that drove the revolution, contending that it was much more of a modern revolution than previous historians have thought. Many of these issues appeared again a century later in the American Revolution, almost as if the Americans were not even aware of all that had intervened between 1688 and 1788. In particular the opposition between an agrarian view of property as land, and the commercial view of property as the produce of trade and manufacturing as well as land. The contrast is between Jefferson and Hamilton.
I am thinking of writing an essay entitled "Senatorial Pretensions" focusing on the transformation of the Senate in the 1806-1820 period, but I am not sure how much more research I would have to do.
I will be on vacation from 1/20 to 1.31. By the way, my book is now published as an ebook on amazon.com.
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