The Pete Quiñones Show Episode 1345: The Road to Civil War Pt. 3 - John Taylor and the Agrarian Republic - w/ George Bagby
Mar 19, 2026
George Bagby, publisher of long‑forgotten books and John Taylor expert, returns to unpack early American political thought. He traces Taylor’s agrarian vision vs. Hamiltonian centralization. Short, lively takes cover Taylor’s agricultural writings, classical influences, critiques of tariffs and corporations, militia politics, and clashes with Marshallian jurisprudence.
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Agrarianism Matches Early American Reality
- Jeffersonian agrarianism appealed broadly because late-18th-century America was overwhelmingly agricultural and cities were small.
- John Taylor and Jefferson argued small farmers' self-sufficiency matched classical ideals from Aristotle and Plato and grounded republican virtue.
Classical Roots Of Agrarian Critique
- Classical thinkers warned that merchants who treat money as an end corrupt civic life, contrasting natural wealth from farming with artificial wealth from trade.
- Bagby traces Taylor's critique to Aristotle's oikonomia versus chrematistics and Plato's distrust of markets.
Taylor Defends Farmers As Political Foundation
- John Taylor argued real wealth producers (farmers) sustain republican institutions and feared Hamiltonian policies would transfer that wealth to cities.
- Taylor's popular Erator mixed practical soil-restoration advice with political economy defending broad property ownership.
