Sentimental Democracy

Sentimental Democracy: The Evolution of America's Romantic Self-Image (New York: Hill & Wang, 1999) is an examination of the language Americans have used, since before the time of the Revolution, to describe their nation as an optimistic, innovative, and morally secure democracy. They have long relied on a vocabulary that justifies the benevolent use of power, and that equates a transcendent quality of "feeling" with political liberty.