Journal of Public Deliberation Volume 15 Issue 2 Town Meeting Politics in the United States: The Idea and Practice of an American Article 7 Myth 2019 A ‘Peaceable and Orderly Manner’: Town Meetings and other Popular Assemblies in the American Founding Robert W. T. Martin Hamilton College,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://www.publicdeliberation.net/jpd Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Martin, Robert W. T. (2019) "A ‘Peaceable and Orderly Manner’: Town Meetings and other Popular Assemblies in the American Founding," Journal of Public Deliberation: Vol. 15 : Iss. 2 , Article 7. Available at: https://www.publicdeliberation.net/jpd/vol15/iss2/art7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Public Deliberation. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Public Deliberation by an authorized editor of Public Deliberation. A ‘Peaceable and Orderly Manner’: Town Meetings and other Popular Assemblies in the American Founding Abstract The New England town meeting has often been seen as the archetypical deliberative citizen forum (see, e.g., Mansbridge 1980). More recently, political theorists have begun to appreciate the way in which any particular public forum might be better understood as part of the larger deliberative system (Parkinson, Mansbridge, 2012). Much of this work draws on modern-day examples (Parkinson 2006). But a return to the American founding era reveals that while town meetings are often praised and have many democratic virtues, they also embody a limitation on popular action generally and especially on democratic dissent. Keywords deliberative democracy, town meetings, citizen assemblies, dissent, James Madison, American Founding This article is available in Journal of Public Deliberation: https://www.publicdeliberation.net/jpd/vol15/iss2/art7 Martin: A ‘Peaceable and Orderly Manner’ Introduction Much like the ancient Athenian assembly, the New England town meeting has often been seen as an archetypical deliberative citizen forum (see, e.g., Mansbridge 1980).