Writing to Benjamin Franklin in 1772, David Hume said he was keen to see an American edition of his works, remarking “I fancy that I must have recourse to America for justice.” Sadly, modern scholars have been less than attentive to Hume's reception in early America. It frequently is supposed that early Americans ignored Hume's philosophical writings and, even more so, that they rejected out-of-hand his “Tory” History of England. Scholars have long assumed that Hume's books had insignificant influence on American political writers. James Madison, if he used Hume's ideas in Federalist No. 10, it is commonly argued, thought best to do so silently — for open allegiance to Hume was a liability. Despite renewed debate about the impact of Hume's political ideas on Madison and a select few other Americans, existing scholarship is often speculative, narrow, and oblivious to the more complete story attempted below.

This book explores the reception of David Hume's thought in eighteenth-century America by drawing upon a wide assortment of evidence. The story revealed in those sources presents a challenge to standard interpretations that assume Americans rejected Hume's works. Early American book catalogues, periodical publications, and the writings of lesser-light thinkers are used to describe Hume's impact on the social history of ideas, an essential context for understanding the classic texts of early American political thought, where Hume's influence is especially evident.