Imagining deliberative democracy in the early American republic

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Deliberation, in recent years, has emerged as a form of civic engagement worth reclaiming. This book combines historical literary analysis and political theory in order to demonstrate that current democratic practices of deliberation are rooted in the civic rhetoric that flourished in the early American republic. Though the U.S. Constitution made deliberation central to republican self-governance, the ethical emphasis on group deliberation often conflicted with the rhetorical focus on persuasive speech.