“危机”想象与美国革命的特征

The Imagining of "Crisis" and the Characteristics of the American Revolution

美国革命并不是通常意义上的危机的产物,建国精英以"自由的危机"为核心的"危机"想象,成为进行革命动员、推进国家建构的主导话语。根据这种"危机"话语,英国对殖民地的征税和其他举措,并非单纯的经济问题,而是对自由的严重威胁;独立战争则是一场抗击暴政、决定自由命运的战争。邦联时期的各种社会、经济和政治问题,以及由此产生的民众的激烈反应,乃是由"滥用"自由而造成的新的"自由的危机"。联邦宪法的制定,正是挽救这种"自由的危机"的良策;而反对宪法的人则声称,正是新宪法的出台使自由重新陷入了"危机"。当时的观察者和后来的思想家对美国革命意义的诠释,与美国建国精英的这种话语方式呈现高度的契合,从而把美国革命塑造成一场相当独特的革命。

The American Revolution was not the outcome of crisis in the commonly accepted sense of the word.The imagining of 'crisis' by the founding elite centered on the 'crisis of liberty' and served as the dominant discourse for mobilizing the people and promoting the cause of nation-building.According to this 'crisis' discourse,Britain's imposition of taxation and other measures upon the colonies were not simply economic issues,but constituted a serious threat to liberty itself.The war for independence was therefore a war fought against tyranny that would determine the fate of liberty.The various social,economic and political problems and the resultant strong reactions of the mass of the people during the period of Confederation represented a new phase of the 'crisis of liberty' deriving from the 'abuse' of liberty,for which the making of the new Constitution provided an effective solution.However,the opponents of the Constitution argued that it was the promulgation of the Constitution that would once again throw liberty into crisis.Contemporary observations and later reflections on the significance of the American Revolution coincide to a great extent with the discourse of the founding elite,resulting in the portrayal of the American Revolution as something quite unique.