A Common Country

Nathan Pippenger shows that for American democracy to flourish, egalitarians must not reject the ideal of shared American peoplehood, but instead lay their own distinctive claim to its meaning. In contrast to reactionaries promoting a version of American nationalism that locks out many people or egalitarians suspicious of appeals to shared civic belonging, Pippenger demonstrates that throughout US history, progressive appeals to expand the reach of “We the People” did most to improve the quality of democracy and overcome nativism, racism, and oligarchy.