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 scene, the ultimate explanation of every political controversy, was the disposition of power. — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share
In effect the people were present through their representatives, and were themselves, step by step and point by point, acting in the… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
The ideas that the colonists put forward, rather than creating a new condition of fact, expressed one that has long existed; they… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
The categories within which the colonists thought about the social foundations of politics were inheritances from classical antiquity, reshaped by seventeenth century… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
Up and down the the still sparsely settled coast of British North America, groups of men-intellectuals and farmers, scholars and merchants, the… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
That by 1774 the final crisis of the constitution, brought on by political and social corruption, had been reached was, to most… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
“For "as great a blessing as government is," the Rev. Peter Whitney explained, "like other blessings, it may become a scourge, a… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
In England the practice of "virtual" representation provided reasonably well for the actual representation of the major interests of the society, and it raised… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
Instantly available without continuous presence is probably the best role a mother can play. — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
“For the primary goal of the American Revolution which transferred American life and introduced a new era in human history, was not the overthrow… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
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 scene, the ultimate explanation of every political controversy, was the disposition of power. — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share
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… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
“Power always and everywhere had had a pernicious, corrupting effect upon men. It "converts a good man in private life to a tyrant in office." It acts upon men like drink: it "is known to be intoxicating in its nature"—"too intoxicating and liable to abuse." And nothing within man is sufficiently strong to guard against these effects of power—certainly not… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share
In effect the people were present through their representatives, and were themselves, step by step and point by point, acting in the conduct of… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
The wielders of power did not speak for it, nor did they naturally serve it. Their interest was to use and develop power, no… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
Defiance to constituted authority leaped like a spark from one flammable area to another, growing in heat as it went. — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
Whatever deficiencies the leaders of the American Revolution may have had, reticence, fortunately, was not one of them. — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
The classics of the ancient world are everywhere in the literature of the Revolution, but thet are everywhere illustrative, not determinative, of thought — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
Incorporating in their colorful, slashing, superbly readable pages, the major themes of the "left" opposition under Walpole, these libertarian tracts, emerging first in the… — Bernard Bailyn Copy Share Image
