The Language Of Liberty

This book creates a new framework for the political and intellectual relations between the British Isles and America in a momentous period which witnessed the formation of modern states on both sides of the Atlantic and the extinction of an Anglican, aristocratic and monarchical order. Jonathan Clark integrates evidence from law and religion to reveal how the dynamics of early modern societies were essentially denominational. In a study of British and American discourse, he shows how rival conceptions of liberty were expressed in the conflicts created by Protestant dissent's hostility to an Anglican hegemony. The book argues that this model provides a key to collective acts of resistance to the established order throughout the period. The book's final section focuses on the defining episode for British and American history, and shows the way in which the American Revolution can be understood as a war of religion.

The Language of Liberty: A Citizen's Vocabulary is a substantive lexicon of 101 political terms. These are not simply definitions, but explorations of each term's meaning in the broader context of American life and history. Addressing nearly every aspect of our political system, and doing so in a non-partisan, accessible, manner, The Language of Liberty will appeal to anyone wanting to understand our political system more fully. It amounts to an owner's manual for American government. This book is timeless, yet needed now more than ever. "At a time when the vocabulary of politics and governance has never been more devalued and skewed for partisan purposes, Ed Hagenstein's The Language of Liberty: A Citizen's Vocabulary offers an effective and indeed noble antidote. The book provides concise definitions of the terms we see thrown around so carelessly every day-from the specific (Chief of Staff, lame duck) to the complex and conceptual (meritocracy, identity politics). It brings clarity and sensible relief to the politically charged and often deliberately misleading public discourse to which we lately have been subjected. We need this book. Read it, and be reminded of what the language of liberty really means." -David Lambertson, retired Foreign Service Officer and former U.S. Ambassador to Thailand

Words communicate ideas. In order to preserve liberty, we must secure its language. Each generation is subject to the distortion of its language through the lack of education and misuse of words. Noah Webster states, "The authority of individuals is always liable to be called into question-but the unanimous consent of a nation, and a fixed principle interwoven with the very construction of a language, are like the common laws of the land, they are forced to be acknowledged and reasoned from, and to which most understood men will readily agree. Diversity of expression is always to be balanced with the constancy of a fixed principle." The Language of Liberty is Book Two of The Liberty Series.

"Liberty was the most cherished right possessed by English-speaking people in the eighteenth century. It was both an ideal for the guidance of governors and a standard with which to measure the constitutionality of government; both a cause of the American Revolution and a purpose for drafting the United States Constitution; both an inheritance from Great Britain and a reason republican common lawyers continued to study the law of England." As John Philip Reid goes on to make clear, "liberty" did not mean to the eighteenth-century mind what it means today. In the twentieth century, we take for granted certain rights—such as freedom of speech and freedom of the press—with which the state is forbidden to interfere. To the revolutionary generation, liberty was preserved by curbing its excesses. The concept of liberty taught not what the individual was free to do but what the rule of law permitted. Ultimately, liberty was law—the rule of law and the legalism of custom. The British constitution was the charter of liberty because it provided for the rule of law. Drawing on an impressive command of the original materials, Reid traces the eighteenth-century notion of liberty to its source in the English common law. He goes on to show how previously problematic arguments involving the related concepts of licentiousness, slavery, arbitrary power, and property can also be fit into the common-law tradition. Throughout, he focuses on what liberty meant to the people who commented on and attempted to influence public affairs on both sides of the Atlantic. He shows the depth of pride in liberty—English liberty—that pervaded the age, and he also shows the extent—unmatched in any other era or among any other people—to which liberty both guided and motivated political and constitutional action.

Clem walked to the corner of the room and picked up a wooden box. From inside the box, he pulled out an old, worn-out book. Stuffed in the back of the binding were several pieces of paper filled with hand-written notes. He pulled out the notes and handed me the book. The book appeared to have been sitting in that box for many years. The title was carved into the dried-up leather cover by some sort of nail or perhaps a knife. I read the title: The Liberty of Our Language Revealed. "You ever heard of it before?" Clem inquired. "No, I haven't," I answered, opening its dusty pages. "Wait, these pages are blank, and there is no author!" I declared, as I flipped back to the front cover to see if any name was written. Clem paused and made eye contact with me, "You are the author, Thomas; you are the author of The Liberty of Our Language Revealed."On the walls of the abandoned escape route someone had etched several phrases. I studied each one. "Change your language, change your life." "Improve your results, create a better environment." "Increase your productivity, transform your economy." "Elevate your performance, and achieve higher standards."

The premise of Chittick's study is that the national discourse found in British periodical literature of 1802-30 is crucial to an understanding of the literary language of the era.

Timed to publish with the opening of the Statue of Liberty Museum, this is Lady Liberty's untold story of her building, restoration, and iconic place in the world as brought to life through the fascinating lens of archival images, ephemera from the museum's collection, and today's most compelling photography--restored and resplendent against the New York City skyline. Following Rizzoli's acclaimed series with the September 11 Memorial and Museum--The Stories They Tell and No Day Shall Erase You--we now are partnering with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation to publish this official book on the Statue of Liberty. The material from the book will be drawn from the collections and archives that will be on display in the brand new Statue of Liberty Museum--opening in May 2019 The Statue of Liberty is more than a monument. It is a symbol of freedom that draws more than four million visitors annually from around the world. Officially named "Liberty Enlightening the World," the statue was a joint effort between America and France to commemorate the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. The book follows the story as told in the new Museum--from its conception and creation to its restoration in 1986 to Lady Liberty's place as a shining icon to the world.