Between 1790 all through 1860 America was a new country trying to learn how to run itself. The success of the American Revolution brought hope of a country with a just government; a nation where every citizen has a say in how things are run. I believe America had only started to envision that, with citizens like William Manning proposing thoughts on how American government could be, but with concern about how it could get corrupted. The way some citizens would stay oppressed while others stood on their work. Such corrupt systems in the future did in fact defile the motions of liberty America started on. Free American thinkers such as Orestes Brownson and Fredrick Douglas criticized the way America was taking itself. With the power going
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Citizens believed in the war and believed that it would bring about positive change for the country. After the war, in 1799, William Manning was a leading example of one. “And when the revolution began in America I was in the prime of my life, and taken up with the ideas of liberty and a free government.” (William Manning, The Nature of Free Government, p. 148). Manning describes himself as an everyday laborer who fought in the war because he believed he was doing the right thing. He states he “…always thought it my duty to search into and see for myself in all matters that concerned me as a member of society.” (William Manning, The Nature of Free Government, p. 148). The result of a war left people with a country that they could create in their own image. Manning then gives the possible country’s free government, which could be one that is “…governed by known laws in which the whole nation had a voice in making by a full and fair representation, and in which all the officers in every department are servants and not masters.” (William Manning, The Nature of Free Government, p. 148). He predicts on what will soon be inevitable due to human nature, “The great scuffle between the Few and the Many.” (William Manning, The Nature of Free Government, p. 150). The ‘few’ and the ‘many’ represent the elite wealthy class and the working class. Manning says there will always be unequal distribution of property in the world. The few and the many cannot both exist successfully together, as one will always overpower the
Citizens believed in the war and believed that it would bring about positive change for the country. After the war, in 1799, William Manning was a leading example of one. “And when the revolution began in America I was in the prime of my life, and taken up with the ideas of liberty and a free government.” (William Manning, The Nature of Free Government, p. 148). Manning describes himself as an everyday laborer who fought in the war because he believed he was doing the right thing. He states he “…always thought it my duty to search into and see for myself in all matters that concerned me as a member of society.” (William Manning, The Nature of Free Government, p. 148). The result of a war left people with a country that they could create in their own image. Manning then gives the possible country’s free government, which could be one that is “…governed by known laws in which the whole nation had a voice in making by a full and fair representation, and in which all the officers in every department are servants and not masters.” (William Manning, The Nature of Free Government, p. 148). He predicts on what will soon be inevitable due to human nature, “The great scuffle between the Few and the Many.” (William Manning, The Nature of Free Government, p. 150). The ‘few’ and the ‘many’ represent the elite wealthy class and the working class. Manning says there will always be unequal distribution of property in the world. The few and the many cannot both exist successfully together, as one will always overpower the