---
title: "3 American revolution Quotes By Bernard Bailyn"
description: "3 American revolution quotes by Bernard Bailyn. Plus more from Bernard Bailyn and more American revolution sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a9/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-life_for-the-primary-goal-of-the-american-rev_321127.png"
---

> [“For the primary goal of the American Revolution which transferred American life and introduced a new era in human history, was not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/for-the-primary-goal-of-the-american-revolution-which-transferred/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a9/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-life_for-the-primary-goal-of-the-american-rev_321127.png)

> [Whatever deficiencies the leaders of the American Revolution may have had, reticence, fortunately, was not one of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/whatever-deficiencies-the-leaders-of-the-american-revolution-may-have/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f2/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-revolution_whatever-deficiencies-the-leaders-of-the_1196489.png)

> [In no obvious sense was the American Revolution undertaken as a social revolution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/in-no-obvious-sense-was-the-american-revolution-undertaken-as-a/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9e/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-revolution_in-no-obvious-sense-was-the-american-rev_2169781.png)

## Other authors on American revolution

- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-george-washington-38054.jpg) George Washington 22 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/george-washington/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-thomas-jefferson-90435.jpg) Thomas Jefferson 17 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/thomas-jefferson/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-thomas-paine-90547.jpg) Thomas Paine 15 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/thomas-paine/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-patrick-henry-73613.jpg) Patrick Henry 15 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/patrick-henry/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b013/author-john-adams-50864.jpg) John Adams 12 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/john-adams/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b021/author-samuel-adams-82737.jpg) Samuel Adams 9 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/samuel-adams/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b014/author-joseph-j-ellis-53380.jpg) Joseph J. Ellis 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/joseph-j-ellis/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-howard-zinn-42481.jpg) Howard Zinn 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/howard-zinn/)

## More by Bernard Bailyn

> [In England the practice of "virtual" representation provided reasonably well for the actual representation of the major interests of the society, and it raised…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/in-england-the-practice-of-virtual-representation-provided-reasonably/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [Instantly available without continuous presence is probably the best role a mother can play.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/instantly-available-without-continuous-presence-is-probably-the-best/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [“For the primary goal of the American Revolution which transferred American life and introduced a new era in human history, was not the overthrow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/for-the-primary-goal-of-the-american-revolution-which-transferred/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [The theory of politics that emerges from the political literature of the pre-Revolutionary years rests on the belief that what lay behind every political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/the-theory-of-politics-that-emerges-from-the-political-literature-of/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [The idea of sovereignty current in the English speaking world of the 1760's was scarcely more than a century old. It had first emerged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/the-idea-of-sovereignty-current-in-the-english-speaking-world-of-the/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [“Power always and everywhere had had a pernicious, corrupting effect upon men. It "converts a good man in private life to a tyrant in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/power-always-and-everywhere-had-had-a-pernicious-corrupting-effect/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [In effect the people were present through their representatives, and were themselves, step by step and point by point, acting in the conduct of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/in-effect-the-people-were-present-through-their-representatives-and/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [The wielders of power did not speak for it, nor did they naturally serve it. Their interest was to use and develop power, no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/the-wielders-of-power-did-not-speak-for-it-nor-did-they-naturally/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [Defiance to constituted authority leaped like a spark from one flammable area to another, growing in heat as it went.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/defiance-to-constituted-authority-leaped-like-a-spark-from-one/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [Whatever deficiencies the leaders of the American Revolution may have had, reticence, fortunately, was not one of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/whatever-deficiencies-the-leaders-of-the-american-revolution-may-have/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [The classics of the ancient world are everywhere in the literature of the Revolution, but thet are everywhere illustrative, not determinative, of thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/the-classics-of-the-ancient-world-are-everywhere-in-the-literature-of/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [Incorporating in their colorful, slashing, superbly readable pages, the major themes of the "left" opposition under Walpole, these libertarian tracts, emerging first in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/incorporating-in-their-colorful-slashing-superbly-readable-pages-the/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [The full bibliography of pamphlets relating to the Anglo-American struggle published in the colonies through the year 1776 contains not a dozen or so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/the-full-bibliography-of-pamphlets-relating-to-the-anglo-american/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [Everyone knew that democracy - direct rule by all the people - required such spartan, soul-denying virtue on the part of all the people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/everyone-knew-that-democracy-direct-rule-by-all-the-people-required/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

> [What Americans were really objecting to had nothing to do with constitutional principles. their objection was not to Parliament's constitutional right to levy certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/what-americans-were-really-objecting-to-had-nothing-to-do-with/)

[Bernard Bailyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-bailyn/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/bernard-bailyn/#itemlist",
            "name": "3 American revolution Quotes By Bernard Bailyn",
            "numberOfItems": 3,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“For the primary goal of the American Revolution which transferred American life and introduced a new era in human history, was not the overthrow or even the alteration of the existing social order but the preservation of political liberty threatened by the apparent corruption of the constitution, and the establishment in principle of the existing conditions of liberty.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Bernard Bailyn"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/for-the-primary-goal-of-the-american-revolution-which-transferred/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a9/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-life_for-the-primary-goal-of-the-american-rev_321127.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a9/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-life_for-the-primary-goal-of-the-american-rev_321127.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a9/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-life_for-the-primary-goal-of-the-american-rev_321127.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“For the primary goal of the American Revolution which transferred American life and introduced a new era in…” — Bernard Bailyn",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Whatever deficiencies the leaders of the American Revolution may have had, reticence, fortunately, was not one of them.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Bernard Bailyn"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/whatever-deficiencies-the-leaders-of-the-american-revolution-may-have/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f2/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-revolution_whatever-deficiencies-the-leaders-of-the_1196489.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f2/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-revolution_whatever-deficiencies-the-leaders-of-the_1196489.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f2/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-revolution_whatever-deficiencies-the-leaders-of-the_1196489.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Whatever deficiencies the leaders of the American Revolution may have had, reticence, fortunately, was not…” — Bernard Bailyn",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "In no obvious sense was the American Revolution undertaken as a social revolution.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Bernard Bailyn"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-bailyn/in-no-obvious-sense-was-the-american-revolution-undertaken-as-a/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9e/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-revolution_in-no-obvious-sense-was-the-american-rev_2169781.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9e/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-revolution_in-no-obvious-sense-was-the-american-rev_2169781.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9e/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-revolution_in-no-obvious-sense-was-the-american-rev_2169781.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“In no obvious sense was the American Revolution undertaken as a social revolution.” — Bernard Bailyn",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/bernard-bailyn/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/bernard-bailyn/",
            "name": "American revolution Quotes by Bernard Bailyn",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/bernard-bailyn/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a9/bernard-bailyn-20777_american-life_for-the-primary-goal-of-the-american-rev_321127.png"
            },
            "description": "3 American revolution quotes by Bernard Bailyn. Plus more from Bernard Bailyn and more American revolution sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/bernard-bailyn/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/bernard-bailyn/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "American Revolution",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Bernard Bailyn",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-revolution/bernard-bailyn/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```