In Search of the American Spirit: The Political Thought of Orestes Brownson

Gregory S. Butler examines Brownson’s work by drawing on the theoretical perspective of the political philosopher Eric Voegelin. Through Brownson’s works, Butler identifies the symbols that aid both in expressing the meaning of the American experiment and in illustrating the current debate about the failures of the human experience in a secular society.

Butler gives special attention to Brownson’s belief that the moral interpretation assigned to American political symbols—Liberty, Equality, the Rights of Man—derives from the American understanding of the nature and destiny of the human soul. Brownson eventually came to believe that humankind can only progress by finding inspiration in the divine and that the American political order must be based in the Christian, especially the Roman Catholic, moral tradition. Butler’s work offers at once the most complete picture of Orestes Brownson’s political thought and a distinctive view of American history.