When the Federal Republic Took on 'Crony Capitalism'
Historical memory often plays cruel tricks. People and ideas deserving of remembrance and celebration instead fade into obscurity, reserved only to the concerns of the historian. Such proved the fate of John Taylor of Caroline. A cavalry officer during the American Revolution as well as a devoted Anti-Federalist and Old Republican, Taylor was once considered a champion of agrarian republicanism and state sovereignty. Today, however, only serious students of American history and political thought know his work. Even then, many scholars dismiss Taylor as little more than an arch-conservative crank who defended outmoded ideas against the rising glory of national greatness. F. Thorton Miller’s edition of Taylor’s Tyranny Unmasked, the only modern scholarly edition in print, helps Taylor recover some of his former renown. While it is true that his writings lacked stylistic grace, Tyranny Unmaskedreveals why Taylor’s creative, brilliant, and well-read mind made him “in some ways the most impressive political theorist that America has produced.”
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