The Political Writings of Charles Brockden Brown

The Political Writings of Charles Brockden Brown

Charles Brockden Brown, famous as the first professional American writer, was an inventive creator of novels, stories, pamphlets and journal articles. His life extended from 1771-1810, over some of the most significant periods of American history. He came from a Quaker community of Philadelphia, a very intellectually and politically active city. Not surprisingly, Brown was “swept up in a strong current of challenges to traditional authority” (Watts: 51). He was heavily influenced by the thought of his time, notably Godwin, Wollstonecraft, French Revolutionary thinkers and the American “disciples” of Locke (Clark:110). Much of his political writing addressed specific situations, though Brown also held very strong beliefs on government and power generally: “[Law] is the shortest and safest road to the possession of power, and power must be desirable by bad men for its own sake, and by good men for the sake of the beneficial employment of it” (The Rhapsodist: 108). Due to this focus on legislative power, Brown’s political writings are intensely critical of the Jefferson government and its actions. “He is a moralist, and extractor of lessons from specific incidents, not a pointer of people in action” (Warfel: X).

Brown was generally concerned with the theory of government and its relation to happiness. Throughout the 1790s he developed many Utopian visions in an attempt to create the perfect political world (Watts : 65). He adamantly demanded “artistic, intellectual, commercial, and… political independence from Europe” (Axelrod: 4): “In every work proceeding from my pen, my chief demand… [is] the liberty of judging for myself” (The Rhapsodist: 22). Brown...

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...nd the Cession of the Mississippi to France, drawn up by a Counsellor of State. Ed. David Lee Clark. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1952. pp. 261-268.

----. Monroe’s Embassy, of the Conduct of the Government in Relation to our Claims to the Navigation of the Mississippi. Ed. David Lee Clark. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1952. pp. 268-270.

---. The Rhapsodist. Ed. Harry R. Warfel. New York: Scholar’s Facsimiles and Reprints, 1977.

Clark, David Lee. Charles Brockden Brown: Pioneer Voice of America. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1952.

Warfel, Harry R. Introduction. The Rhapsodist. Ed. Harry R. Warfel. New York: Scholar’s Facsimiles and Reprints, 1977. pp. v-xii.

Watts, Steven. “The Young Artist as Social Visionary” The Romance of Real Life. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. pp. 49-70.