To Organize the Sovereign People

"This book explores the struggle to define the meaning of self-government in Pennsylvania in the years following the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, radicals mobilized the people to overthrow the Colonial Assembly and adopt a new constitution, one that which established that average citizens always retained the right to exercise their sovereignty directly. While highly participatory, this system proved unwieldy and chaotic. In the 1780s, political moderates learned to harness various forms of "popular" mobilization to establish themselves as the legitimate spokesmen of the entire citizenry. Thus the very meaning of democracy changed, solidifying around party politics and elections, enabling a small group of white men to set the framework for what self-government means in the United States to this day"--