The Heart of the Commonwealth: Society and Political Culture in Worcester County, Massachusetts 1713-1861One of the central controversies in our understanding of early America involves the place of republican and liberal thinking in polity and society. The Heart of the Commonwealth presents a synthetic view of the social grounding of republicanism and liberalism in Worcester Country, Massachusetts, from its settlement after the Peace of Utrecht to the eve of the Civil War, as this country's people passed through the formative fires of both national and