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 symbolsLiberty, Equality, the Rights of Manderives from the American understanding of the nature and destiny of the human...