The Great Tradition
HistoryThe Great Tradition traces the way in which English constitutional history became a major factor in the development of a national identity that took for granted the superiority of the English as a governing race. In the United States, constitutional history also became an aspect of the United States's self-definition as a nation governed by law. The book's importance lies in the way constitutional history interpreted the past to create a favorable self-image for each country. It deals with constitutional history as a justification for empire, a model for the emergent academic history of the 1870s, a surrogate for political argument in the guise of scholarship, and an element that contributed to the Anglo-American rapprochement before World War I. The book also traces the rise and decline of constitutional history as a fashionable sub-discipline within the academy.
"The Great Tradition not only demonstrates the centrality of constitutional narratives in helping to define national identities during a crucial period for both Britain and the United States, but also makes a vital contribution to the history of history writing, the historical profession, and Anglo-American cultural links. There is also much here about contextual influences affecting historians, from patriotism to racism. In discussing the subsequent decline of constitutional history's pride of place among historians following the First World War, Brundage and Cosgrove nonetheless demonstrate its extraordinarily long shelf-life." —Paul T. Phillips, St. Francis Xavier University
