Edmund S. Morgan
July 9, 2013 1:23 AM Subscribe
"Curiosity is the principle motivator of all important work." Distinguished historian Edmund S. Morgan died on Monday at the age of 97.
Morgan wrote a number of important books about American colonial history, among them American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia, which examined how slavery shaped the Founding Fathers' ideas about freedom, and which has heavily influenced scholars' perspective on the issue. He also wrote Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America, which argues that the popular sovereignty of the United States has always been something of a fiction. He taught at Brown University until 1955, when Yale made him an offer and he said, "Oh, well, what the hell." Here's a long interview with him from 1985: "Over the next summer I wrote the dissertation, and in the fall I handed it to Perry Miller....He said, 'Try again, for God's sake. What do you think this is, just an enlarged senior essay?'"
Morgan wrote a number of important books about American colonial history, among them American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia, which examined how slavery shaped the Founding Fathers' ideas about freedom, and which has heavily influenced scholars' perspective on the issue. He also wrote Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America, which argues that the popular sovereignty of the United States has always been something of a fiction. He taught at Brown University until 1955, when Yale made him an offer and he said, "Oh, well, what the hell." Here's a long interview with him from 1985: "Over the next summer I wrote the dissertation, and in the fall I handed it to Perry Miller....He said, 'Try again, for God's sake. What do you think this is, just an enlarged senior essay?'"
"Curiosity is the principal motivator of all important work,"
I'm fond of the sentiment...but it isn't clear to me that greed, fear, and cussedness haven't produced anything important...
"There is no way there's such a thing as the American people expressing a wish," Morgan says. "Wishes must be expressed through representatives who have their own views. But we need the fiction of the 'American people' as an entity with a will and expressed views. Our American government is based on this fiction."
A plausible pronouncement, but not clearly true. I'm not at all sure that groups don't have collective, mind-like states. Groups deliberate, for example... Some memos take the form "it is the wish of the committee that..." The outcome of the 2012 election can plausibly be construed as an expression of the wish of the American people that Obama rather than Romney be president... None of this proves anything, of course, it just suggests that things aren't so obvious in this vicinity.
In his book, Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America, Morgan says the popular control of government is largely a fictional concept, inherited from the notion of the divine right of kings. "No society is governed by the many," he says. "All societies are governed only by the few, whether the government is a monarchy or a democracy." But it is a concept that has worked well over the centuries and the continued belief in it, he asserts, is essential to our system of government.
Meh. If we can vote the bastards out, then there is an obvious and real sense in which our society if governed by the many. Though, of course, we all know that we elect representatives to do the work, and there's also a real sense in which they are doing the governing. So "largely" a "fiction"? I dunno. Sorta, but not exactly, I guess I'd say... More thought required...
posted by Fists O'Fury at 3:22 AM on July 9, 2013
I'm fond of the sentiment...but it isn't clear to me that greed, fear, and cussedness haven't produced anything important...
"There is no way there's such a thing as the American people expressing a wish," Morgan says. "Wishes must be expressed through representatives who have their own views. But we need the fiction of the 'American people' as an entity with a will and expressed views. Our American government is based on this fiction."
A plausible pronouncement, but not clearly true. I'm not at all sure that groups don't have collective, mind-like states. Groups deliberate, for example... Some memos take the form "it is the wish of the committee that..." The outcome of the 2012 election can plausibly be construed as an expression of the wish of the American people that Obama rather than Romney be president... None of this proves anything, of course, it just suggests that things aren't so obvious in this vicinity.
In his book, Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America, Morgan says the popular control of government is largely a fictional concept, inherited from the notion of the divine right of kings. "No society is governed by the many," he says. "All societies are governed only by the few, whether the government is a monarchy or a democracy." But it is a concept that has worked well over the centuries and the continued belief in it, he asserts, is essential to our system of government.
Meh. If we can vote the bastards out, then there is an obvious and real sense in which our society if governed by the many. Though, of course, we all know that we elect representatives to do the work, and there's also a real sense in which they are doing the governing. So "largely" a "fiction"? I dunno. Sorta, but not exactly, I guess I'd say... More thought required...
posted by Fists O'Fury at 3:22 AM on July 9, 2013
His books on Franklin and Virginia sound fascinating. I'll have to check them out.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:34 AM on July 9, 2013
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:34 AM on July 9, 2013
One of my favorite history professors liked to tell the story about when, as a graduate student many years ago, he met Edmund Morgan at a cocktail party. "Professor Morgan," he gushed. "I just loved your book about John Winthrop!"
"Seven drafts, my man," said Morgan. "Seven drafts."
posted by maurice at 9:09 AM on July 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
"Seven drafts, my man," said Morgan. "Seven drafts."
posted by maurice at 9:09 AM on July 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
American Slavery, American Freedom revolutionized my understanding about just about every aspect of US History. It's that good. I actually just bought another copy after I gave my last one away.
posted by absalom at 11:22 AM on July 9, 2013
posted by absalom at 11:22 AM on July 9, 2013
So "largely" a "fiction"? I dunno. Sorta, but not exactly, I guess I'd say... More thought required...
Or more reading.
I'll buy you a copy of either work if you promise to read it. It seems the height of pompous arrogance to dismiss seminal works in the field of history based on a pull quote. The evidence and sophistication of his arguments are years and miles beyond your pithy, dismissive responses.
posted by absalom at 11:27 AM on July 9, 2013
Or more reading.
I'll buy you a copy of either work if you promise to read it. It seems the height of pompous arrogance to dismiss seminal works in the field of history based on a pull quote. The evidence and sophistication of his arguments are years and miles beyond your pithy, dismissive responses.
posted by absalom at 11:27 AM on July 9, 2013
Another obituary for Morgan, from the New Haven Register: "I can spend all day reading Washington's papers....I can do that all day long. But if I pick up the kind of book that I write I go to sleep."
posted by colfax at 1:33 AM on July 10, 2013
posted by colfax at 1:33 AM on July 10, 2013
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I think that's insightful, but not really very hopeful. I have always understood Jefferson's phrase "all men are created equal" to have been derived from Thomas Paine's view that:
"The illuminating and divine principle of the equal rights of man (for it has its origin from the Maker of man) relates, not only to the living individuals, but to generations of men succeeding each other. Every generation is equal in rights to generations which preceded it, by the same rule that every individual is born equal in rights with his contemporary."
The American idea wasn't based on just overthrowing the system of monarchy, but also the system of institutional class privilege and when you conclude that being governed by the few (and not in the sense of an Athenian Republic, but in terms of successive generations of power and privilege) is the logical and even essential result of a democracy, it seems like monarchy has never really left the stage.
The pull quote reminds me of the saying attributed to Einstein that "imagination is more important than knowledge". It's only the guys who have all the knowledge that can say stuff like that sincerely.
posted by three blind mice at 2:02 AM on July 9, 2013 [1 favorite]