Radicalism and Populism in the U.S.

Abstract

In the previous chapter I examined some significant debates held in England between radical and conservative groups, regarding how to organize political institutions. In the following chapters I will examine the continuity of this debate during the Framing period in the U.S. I will begin this study by analyzing certain radical political experiences that I will describe as “populist regimes.” To examine these regimes seems particularly important given that the U.S. Constitution, as well as most of the political arguments presented by its authors during the Founding period represented, at least in part, a direct reaction against (what the Framers perceived as) the increasing and threatening influence of populist forces within the U.S.