John Adams and the Fear of American Oligarchy
Luke Mayville
Princeton University Press
<p>Long before "the one percent" became a protest slogan, American founding father John Adams feared the power of a class he called simply "the few"&#8212;the wellborn, the beautiful, and especially the rich. In <i>John Adams and the Fear of American Oligarchy</i>, Luke Mayville presents the first extended exploration of Adams's preoccupation with a problem that has a renewed urgency today: the way in which inequality threatens to corrode democracy and empower a small elite. By revisiting Adams's political writings, Mayville draws out the statesman's fears about the danger of oligarchy in America and his unique understanding of the political power of wealth&#8212;a surprising and largely forgotten theory that promises to illuminate today's debates about inequality and its political consequences.</p><p>Adams believed that wealth is politically powerful in modern societies not merely because money buys influence, but also because citizens admire and even sympathize with the rich. He...</p>