Overview
Count the Cost is a political pamphlet addressed to the people of Connecticut during a debate over constitutional change. Written under the pseudonym Jonathan Steadfast, it argues that citizens should examine the practical consequences of political proposals before accepting them.
This title is catalogued in Politics & Society. Its reading profile is Medium and Moderate, with themes including ideas, politics, social questions, practical knowledge.
One-Page Summary
Count the Cost is a political pamphlet addressed to the people of Connecticut during a debate over constitutional change. Written under the pseudonym Jonathan Steadfast, it argues that citizens should examine the practical consequences of political proposals before accepting them. The pamphlet belongs to a long American tradition of constitutional argument in which writers use public addresses to persuade readers to consider government structure, taxation, representation, executive authority, and the distribution of power. Its value today lies not in treating its conclusions as timeless, but in seeing how ordinary constitutional debates were framed for a public audience.
The author’s purpose is openly argumentative, so the reader should distinguish between claims and independently established facts. The phrase ‘count the cost’ captures the governing idea: political changes can have consequences that are easy to overlook when a proposal sounds attractive in principle. Read it as a document of civic argument, showing how citizens were encouraged to scrutinize constitutional arrangements and think about the practical effects of changing the rules under which government operates.
Key Themes
Ideas: This title is tagged with ideas as one of its main themes.
Politics: This title is tagged with politics as one of its main themes.
Social questions: This title is tagged with social questions as one of its main themes.
Practical knowledge: This title is tagged with practical knowledge as one of its main themes.