Quotessence
Home / Books / The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

Book by Bernard Bailyn · 3 quotes · Liberty, Authority, Government

Filter quotes by topic

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution Quotes

“For "as great a blessing as government is," the Rev. Peter Whitney explained, "like other blessings, it may become a scourge, a curse, and severe punishment to a people." What made it so, what turned power into a malignent force, was not its own nature so much as the nature of man—his susceptibility to corruption and his lust for self-aggrandizement.”

“Up and down the the still sparsely settled coast of British North America, groups of men-intellectuals and farmers, scholars and merchants, the learned and the ignorant-gathered for the purpose of constructing enlightened governments.”