ABSTRACT
In the primitive early days of America economic theory had been a simple homespun product, woven on fireside looms, and following simple domestic patterns. The first group of professional economists—Henry C. Carey, Francis A. Walker, David A. Wells—made its appearance, and a very considerable group of amateurs—free-lance economists and fireside theorists—contributed to the speculation of the times in the measure of their intelligence. When the social fabric is being torn rudely across by a changing economics, political theory and practice will suffer from the attendant confusions. The principle of coercive authority had lain at the heart of the political theory of Timothy Dwight, and Theodore Woolsey was true to his Puritan antecedents in asserting the supremacy of authority over liberty. Theodore Woolsey has little to say about sovereignty. It was left for a younger generation to examine the problem of sovereignty, and to that business John W. Burgess turned with zest.
