Main Currents in American Thought, Vol. 2 Book

This book, much like its preceding volume, is an interesting survey of the intellectual trends and movements of America during the pre-Civil War period. Parrington contextualizes the ideas of Southern defenders of slavery, mid-atlantic Romantics, and New England abolitionists all within their respective locations. However, this book has aged poorly since its publication in 1927. Parrington's ardent defense of the slave owners he surveys (in particular Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens), is both unnecessary and condescending. Parrington contends that all of these ardent defenders of slavery were actually quite kind to their own slaves. Its the sort of paternalistic bullshit that should be left to the past. On the other hand, Parrington undermines the case that the Civil War was not principally concerned with slavery, largely by examining the oceans of ink expended in the defense of slavery. Moreover, Stephens and his ilk argued that slavery was the proper functioning of a democracy in the Greek tradition (a fact that makes me fundamentally rethink Plato's ideas about the philosopher king leading slaves from my freshman philosophy class.)

The major failure of this volume, which was also a failure of the first volume, is that Parrington assumes a good deal about the reader. For instance, Parrington explains that Daniel Webster's political career was ruined by his support for the Fugitive Slave Act. He goes on to quote at length from Webster, but at no point does he clearly explain what the Fugitive Slave Act actually was. Parrington assumes that the reader knows a certain amount. Maybe that was a fair assumption in 1927, but it certainly is no longer the case. Another significant example was the theory of a Massachusetts thinker from the 17th century, whom Parrington compares to the Levelers during the English Civil War. Once again, the Levelers are left unexplained. These problems, along with Parrington's obsolete views on certain issues undermine so much of what is compelling about these two volumes.