The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn

Britain's illegitimate exercise of power would have to be resisted so that liberty could again flourish. The solution was equally simple and widespread in its appeal. Those who supported the patriot cause could generally agree that the rebellion had been sparked by one particular development: government (British) power had threatened (colonial American) liberty.

His meticulous scholarship is matched with perceptive analysis., Tightly written and politically sophisticated.In the field of American Revolutionary Studies Bailyn's book must henceforth occupy a position of first rank.America's Revolutionary War was like most wars in that it produced an unusually high degree of political unity and a pronounced sense of philosophical clarity. Bailyn writes with the authority and integrity that derive from a thorough mastery of the material. In the process he has also erected a new framework for interpreting the entire first half-century of American national history.A landmark in American historiography., A distinguished achievement. Bailyn has substantially and profoundly altered the nature and direction of the inquiry on the American Revolution. For many, it remains the most persuasive interpretation of the Revolution., With this reading of the American Revolutionary Experience, Mr. His book, which won the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes in 1968, influenced an entire generation of historians. These radical ideas about power and liberty, and deeply rooted fears of conspiracy, had propelled Americans in the 1760s and 1770s into the Revolution, Bailyn said. In The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, the most famous of his works, Bailyn uncovered a set of ideas among the Revolutionary generation that most historians had scarcely known existed. For many, it remains the most persuasive interpretation of the Revolution., In every area of Bernard Bailyn's research-whether Virginia society of the 17th century or the schools of early America-he transformed what historians had hitherto thought about the subject. In every area of Bernard Bailyn's research-whether Virginia society of the 17th century or the schools of early America-he transformed what historians had hitherto thought about the subject.

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn