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Publius and Political Imagination

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

The Federalist is commonly read as an exemplar of political realism. However, alongside Publius' arguments against the enthusiastic imagination— its tendency to inflame the passions, betray the intellect, and subvert political authority—are formative appeals to the imagination's role in reconstituting the public authority shaken during the postrevolutionary years. This essay explores three central aspects of Publius' restorative appeal to the imagination: the appeal to the public veneration required for sustaining political authority across time; the strategies for shifting citizen loyalty from the state and local level to that of a newly energized federal government; and the rhetorical elicitation of the public's imagination in aestheticized portrayals of Providential nationality. These aspects of Publius' argument make up the core of The Federalist's aesthetics of (self) rule. In each instance, Publius invokes the imagination as a heteronomic support to navigate familiar dilemmas of democratic self-authorization.

Key Words: Federalist Papers • imagination • Hume • founding • political aesthetics

Political Theory, Vol. 37, No. 1, 69-98 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0090591708326646


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