Book Review: This Independent Republic
Author: R.J. Rushdoony; Publisher: Ross House Books; Length: 163 pages; Available From: Chalcedon Store/James Dickson Books
Subtitled ‘Studies in the Nature and Meaning of American History’ in this book R.J. Rushdoony explains th religious faith that inspired the American Revolution and the subsequent founding of the United States. The author is at pains to stress that the American Revolution was not a Radical Revolution like that of France or Russia, but was a counter-revolution against the absolutism of the British Parliament that was attempting to overthrow the authority of the colonial governments in lust to centralize power. Interestingly, especially for Irish readers, Rush notes that the ‘Glorious’ Revolution in 1688 did not remove arbitrary power from Britain – all that it did was transfer arbitrary power out of the hands of the monarch, and placed it in the hands of Parliament. This failure to dispense with arbitrary power was a key factor in the events that led up to America’s War of Independence.
Moreover, Rush recognises that due to the influence of Calvinistic theology, the founding fathers of the United States feared the centralization of power in the hands of fallen men; consequently, they strongly believed in limited power for all levels of government, with the appropriate checks and balances to stop totalitarianism. This meant that more emphasis was put on state and county government, rather that federal government. While one cannot fully endorse the Declaration of Independence, nonetheless, This Independent Republic has helped to give this author a better understanding of America’s Christian origins and the arbitrary nature of British Parliamentary power. Although I would have some reservations about the author’s criticisms of Jonathan Edwards’s ‘experimentalism’, on the whole this is yet another fine book by R.J. Rushdoony.
Rating: 8/10
