M.E. Bradford and the Founding

By |2023-05-07T23:55:59-05:00May 7th, 2023|Categories: American Founding, Lee Cheek, Leo Strauss, M. E. Bradford, Sean Busick, Timeless Essays|Tags: |

M.E. (“Mel”) Bradford’s interest in the Founding follows naturally from his Agrarianism. He believed that, unlike the French and Russian Revolutions, America’s was a conservative revolution. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were conservative documents. According to Bradford, the American colonies revolted to preserve self-government, not to embark upon a progressive path toward [...]

Liberty & Republicanism: The Patrick Henry/Onslow Debate

By |2023-03-22T18:13:47-05:00March 22nd, 2023|Categories: John C. Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, Lee Cheek, Republicanism, Sean Busick, Timeless Essays|

The fiercely contested, yet inconclusive election of 1824 set the stage for one of the great debates of American political history. “Mr. Onslow, the ablest among Speakers of the House of Commons, used to say ‘It was a maxim he had often heard when he was a young man, from old and experienced members, that [...]

Recovering the Declaration of Independence

By |2022-07-03T17:39:46-05:00July 3rd, 2022|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, Declaration of Independence, Featured, Lee Cheek, Sean Busick, Timeless Essays|

We should rightly celebrate the Declaration of Independence as a beginning of our political principles, not the final word. Often abused by politicians and scholars of every ilk, the grand document remains a fundamental American defense of diffused power that our leaders in Washington and the professorate cannot ignore. As Americans prepare to celebrate July [...]

Recovering the Declaration of Independence

By |2023-07-03T16:33:18-05:00July 3rd, 2019|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, Declaration of Independence, Independence Day, Sean Busick, Senior Contributors|

Let us pause to reflect on the true significance of our founding. We should rightly celebrate the Declaration of Independence as a beginning of our political principles, not the final word. The grand document remains a fundamental American defense of diffused power that our leaders in Washington and the professorate cannot ignore. As Americans prepare [...]

Can the President Pardon Himself?

By |2021-04-22T18:53:56-05:00July 1st, 2018|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, Constitution, Government, Presidency, Sean Busick|

It used to be a fundamental article of faith among American conservatives that the Constitution can only be understood in the context of the Founders’ original intentions. So, is it reasonable to believe that the Founders intended a president to have the power to pardon himself? The Constitution gives the president “Power to grant Reprieves [...]

Music of the South for Christmas

By |2023-12-26T10:47:41-06:00December 22nd, 2014|Categories: Christmas, Music, Sean Busick|

Historian Michael O’Brien has called the South’s music Southern culture’s “major contribution” to the world.* The South has offered the world Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Bluegrass, and Rock and Roll. Without the South we would lack the music of Elvis, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, Robert Johnson, and Bessie Smith. Southern, [...]

William Gilmore Simms: A Reading List

By |2015-11-10T17:53:02-06:00June 1st, 2014|Categories: Books, Sean Busick, South|

As one who has published on William Gilmore Simms, the Old South’s greatest author, I am periodically asked where one should begin reading his works. This is a good question. Most readers today are not very familiar with Simms. Add to this the fact that he published over eighty books, and it is easy to [...]

My Year in Reading: 2013

By |2014-01-14T17:07:42-06:00January 15th, 2014|Categories: Books, Sean Busick|

“Is there, my Books, a charm which ye have not, No!—When with you, the world is all forgot.” —William Gilmore Simms, “Sonnet—To My Books,” 1823 The beginning of a new year provides me with an opportunity to outline a personal reading plan for the coming year and to reflect upon the books I read last [...]

Imaginative Conservatives: Gifts for Readers

By |2014-12-10T11:46:51-06:00December 14th, 2013|Categories: Gifts for Imaginative Conservatives, Sean Busick|

Gifts for imaginative conservatives are bound to be gifts for readers. Keeping that in mind, permit me to suggest some reading tools and accessories as holiday gift ideas. It is no secret that I love Filson. Their American-made bags and coats are among the best, and toughest, you will ever find. Consider Filson’s wool and [...]

Novels by State: A Southern Reply

By |2023-01-15T12:32:21-06:00October 19th, 2013|Categories: Sean Busick, South|Tags: |

Business Insider caused a sensation with its list “The Most Famous Book Set In Every State.” And when we say “sensation,” we mean “shock and anger.” While some of their picks are obvious, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for Kansas or To Kill a Mockingbird for Alabama, others provoked more consternation. Does Louisiana deserve to [...]

Bachman & Audubon: A Scholarly Friendship

By |2013-12-20T15:39:01-06:00October 15th, 2013|Categories: Books, Sean Busick|

Had I the Wings: The Friendship of Bachman & Audubon, by Jay Shuler Jay Shuler’s Had I the Wings is unusual in that it focuses not on an individual or an event, but on a friendship. Together, with the assistance of their families, John Bachman and John Audubon produced two of the seminal works of [...]

The American and French Revolutions Compared

By |2023-07-13T21:28:03-05:00September 14th, 2013|Categories: American Founding, American Revolution, Revolution, Sean Busick|

One of the many differences between the American and French Revolutions is that, unlike the French, Americans did not fight for an abstraction. Americans initially took up arms against the British to defend and preserve the traditional rights of Englishmen. The slogan “no taxation without representation” aptly summed up one of their chief complaints. The [...]

M.E. Bradford and Southern Agrarianism

By |2023-05-07T16:05:00-05:00July 26th, 2013|Categories: Agrarianism, Lee Cheek, M. E. Bradford, Sean Busick, South, Southern Agrarians|

M.E. Bradford was was truly one of the giants of the postwar conservative intellectual movement. A Southerner first, he was naturally both an agrarian and a conservative. The late M.E. (“Mel”) Bradford (1934-1993) was truly one of the giants of the postwar conservative intellectual movement. A Texan (born in Fort Worth), Bradford earned his B.A. [...]

In Memory of Vicksburg and Gettysburg

By |2020-06-30T21:49:35-05:00July 8th, 2013|Categories: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Sean Busick|Tags: , |

As we remember the Battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg in the summer of 1863, it is worth reflecting on how and why these battles and the Civil War altered the course of American history. People at the time recognized that the War was a watershed. Retired Harvard professor George Ticknor felt like Rip Van Winkle [...]

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