In this revised and expanded second edition of Harmonizing Sentiments: The Declaration of Independence and the Jeffersonian Idea of Self-Government, the original themes of American independence and the meaning of the pursuit of happiness have been updated in light of current controversies among historians surrounding the interpretation of the Revolution and questions of slavery and race in late eighteenth-century imperial debates. This new edition develops more thoroughly the subs...

Historians working in the classical liberal tradition believe that individual decision-making and individual rights matter in the making of history. History written in the classical liberal tradition emerged largely in the nineteenth century, when the field of history was first professionalized in Europe and the Americas. Professional historical research was then imbued with liberal values, which included rigorous attention to the sources, historicist suspicion of an ultimate mover, an hon...