Cosmopolitanism and Nationhood in the Age of Jefferson

Edited by Peter Nicolaisen and Hannah Spahn.

"Cosmopolitanism and Nationhood in the Age of Jefferson" explores the origins of modern conceptions of world citizenship and the nation in Jeffersonian America. In today's discussions of a transnational world, cosmopolitanism tends to be understood as a potential antidote to problematic aspects of nationhood - indeed, cosmopolitanism is often treated as a direct antonym of nationalism. From the perspective of the eighteenth century, however, such an understanding would hardly be self-evident: for Thomas Jefferson and many of his peers in the late Enlightenment, it was possible to conceive of themselves as broad-minded cosmopolitans and as ardent advocates of national interests, without having to emphasize a potential of conflict. Jeffersonian cosmopolitanism, as analyzed in the ten essays of this volume, could thus become a powerful secular source of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American exceptionalism. "Cosmopolitanism and Nationhood in the Age of Jefferson" takes an interdisciplinary approach to the controversial topic of the cosmopolitan roots of modern nationhood, examining it in its historical, political, cultural, literary, and philosophical dimensions. Contents: Gordon S. Wood: The Invention of the United States. - Armin Mattes: Thomas Jefferson and Destutt de Tracy on the Idea of the Nation. - Thomas Clark: Benjamin Rush and the Limits of American Cosmopolitanism. - Maurizio Valsania: Beyond Particularism. Thomas Jefferson's Republican Community. - Hannah Spahn: Cosmopolitan Imperfections. Jefferson, Nationhood, and the Republic of Letters. - Gaye Wilson: Thomas Jefferson and Creating an Image for a New Nation. - Francis D. Cogliano: A "Philosophical vedette". William Dunbar, Thomas Jefferson, and the Republic of Letters. - Catrin Gersdorf: Early American Cool. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and the Affective Foundation of Republican Government. - Philipp Ziesche: American Exceptionalism. Cosmopolitanism by Another Name? - Peter S. Onuf: Cosmopolitanism and Nationhood in the Age of Jefferson. Epilogue. VII,256 Seiten mit vier Abb., gebunden (American Studies - A Monograph Series; Vol. 238/Universitätsverlag Winter 2013)