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Cosmopolitanism and Nationhood in the Age of Jefferson

Herausgeber: Nicolaisen, Peter | Spahn, Hannah

American Studies – A Monograph Series, Bd. 238

2014

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Abstract

‘Cosmopolitanism and Nationhood in the Age of Jefferson’ explores the origins of modern conceptions of world citizenship and the nation in Jeffersonian America. In today’s discussions of a transnational world, cosmopolitanism tends to be understood as a potential antidote to problematic aspects of nationhood – indeed, cosmopolitanism is often treated as a direct antonym of nationalism. From the perspective of the eighteenth century, however, such an understanding would hardly be self-evident: for Thomas Jefferson and many of his peers in the late Enlightenment, it was possible to conceive of themselves as broad-minded cosmopolitans and as ardent advocates of national interests, without having to emphasize a potential of conflict. Jeffersonian cosmopolitanism, as analyzed in the essays of this volume, could thus become a powerful secular source of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American exceptionalism. ‘Cosmopolitanism and Nationhood in the Age of Jefferson’ takes an interdisciplinary approach to the controversial topic of the cosmopolitan roots of modern nationhood, examining it in its historical, political, cultural, literary, and philosophical dimensions.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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Contents v
Acknowledgments vii
Preface 1
HANNAH SPAHN Introduction 3
GORDON S. WOOD The Invention of the United States 23
ARMIN MATTES “Une et indivisible”? Thomas Jefferson and Destutt de Tracy on the Idea of the Nation 41
THOMAS CLARK “Beware the wit of Voltaire”: Benjamin Rush and the Limits of American Cosmopolitanism 75
MAURIZIO VALSANIA Beyond Particularism: Thomas Jefferson’ s Republican Community 93
HANNAH SPAHN Cosmopolitan Imperfections: Jefferson, Nationhood, and the Republic of Letters 113
GAYE WILSON Thomas Jefferson and Creating an Image for a New Nation 137
FRANCIS D. COGLIANO A “Philosophical vedette”: William Dunbar, Thomas Jefferson, and the Republic of Letters 169
CATRIN GERSDORF Early American Cool: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and the Affective Foundation of Republican Government 195
PHILIPP ZIESCHE American Exceptionalism: Cosmopolitanism by Another Name 225
PETER S. ONUF Cosmopolitanism and Nationhood in the Age of Jefferson: Epilogue 239
Contributors 255