One of the problems that emerges during the ratification debate was the question: how will the spirit of the American people be nurtured for republican government? Anti-Federalists worried over the character of the American people. Pace the Federalists, they had a hard time imagining how an extended republic connected by ties of self-interest could maintain itself. How could such a state nurture the proper virtues for self-governance and cultivate a healthy jealousy and defense of liberty against potential, but inevitable, threats. [...]

Washington Irving, who born in 1783 and named after General Washington, knew a thing or two about being in the generation after the founding. It might be expected that Irving would write popular piece mythologizing our founders, like Longfellow's account of Paul Revere, or to retell in heroic terms a famous battle like Bunker Hill. Irving, however, does not attempt to present any of these key events or heroes (though later in life Irving does undertake a biography of his namesake, in five volumes). Instead, he depicts the changes the founding had on Rip's ordinary village by showing (as it were) before and after snapshots. Absenting the revolution effectively reveals its impact on the character of the American people. [...]

In Rip's village, before the revolution, there is a kind of liberty enjoyed by its inhabitants--the liberty of having no responsibilities and cares. Little is expected of Rip by society and so Rip obligingly does little in return.  He is carefree and disinterested in the affairs of the world, because they do not concern him and he has little means of participating in them. Neither the political nor social order encourages Rip to take care of his responsibilities. While freedom from political cares would seem to allow Rip more time to devote to his private affairs, instead the same lack of attachment and care pervades his private life. Only his wife harps on him to take more interest and care with his farm and family.  The lesson Rip must learn is that liberty rightly understood depends on accepting what is within one's care. Otherwise, one is simply slumbering like Rip in the mountains with ghostly companions.

After awakening, Rip returns to his village, which happens to be an election day.  He notes several transformations and he's quite befuddled to explain them. We readers know that Rip has slept through the American founding and yet we experience with him the surprise of seeing how his sleepy village changed.

Aside from physical changes to the village, the strangest transformation is how "[t]he very character of the people seemed changed." In the tavern, he finds a large crowd of "tavern politicians" engaged in fierce discussion and lively debate. Instead of sleepy, disinterested discussion over scraps of bygone news under the watchful approval of Nicholas Vedder, the discussion has a "busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it."

Elections, of course, are a defining feature of self-government. Irving, however, does not show the act of voting itself. Irving's insight is that the bare act of voting is not what shapes a people's character. Taking part in the debate and deliberations animates a free society, because it is how one truly takes part for what happens in public affairs. It matters how ordinary people vote and so debate is crucial for persuading and convincing others. Elections vest the citizen with a responsibility, but responsibility with the charm of being "self-important."

Partisanship replaces tutelage to local big-wig's opinion. Rip's former companions are replaced with "a lean, bilious-looking fellow...haranguing, vehemently," "a busy little fellow," and a "self-important old gentleman." The former two men pelt Rip with questions about his political party. Partisanship gets a lot of bad press, but the thing to keep in mind here is that it means that your opinion matters in the new republic. Every citizen may have her opinion solicited with as much solicitation as a monarch's. Nothing less than which party holds political office is at stake.