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{Bookshelf Recommendation}
The Enduring Battle Between Power & Liberty
By Aaron N. (Nathan) Coleman, PhD
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| Aaron N. (Nathan) Coleman, PhD |
Bernard Bailyn’s The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution just celebrated its 50th year of continuous publication. No work has ever done a better job of explaining the reasons behind the American Revolution and the effects those reasons had on American political and constitutional thought.
Bailyn’s work asks the question of why mid 18th-century Americans revolted from Great Britain. His answer points to an entire set of political thought, known commonly as whig ideology. This whig ideology, ironically enough, originated in 17th- and early 18th-century England and is best associated with political thinkers such as James Harrington, Algernon Sydney, John Locke, Robert Molesworth, Viscount Bolingbroke, John Trenchard and James Gordon (among many others). These last two especially, writing a series of letters under the pseudonym of “Cato,” were among the most widely read work in America in the decades prior to the Revolution.
As a set of beliefs, Whig Ideology possessed a decidedly libertarian (small l) bent. It taught the Americans several critical ideas. By far the most important of these teachings held that history was a perpetual struggle between the polar forces of liberty and power. In nearly every case, from the Greek city-states and the Roman republic to modern Europe, power emerged victorious and the people fell under the shadow of tyranny. Thus, Whig Ideology taught that liberty was soft, fragile, declinate and difficult to maintain. Power, however, proved self-aggrandizing and lustful, always seeking more of itself. For a people lucky enough to possess liberty, constant vigilance against governmental power was essential. The more powerful government became, the less liberty people had.Bailyn’s elegant work traces the tenants of whig ideology from the American resistance against England to the ratification of the Constitution. While the core elements of the ideology remained firmly intact throughout the era, the Revolution, he insists, changed much of its emphasis, unleashing a “contagion of liberty.” Core ideas of what a constitution was, the nature of equality and the role of the people in government all transformed as a result of the Revolution. Many of those ideas, Bailyn concludes, persist to this day.
Nathan Coleman, PhD, is an associate professor of history and chair of the Department of History and Political Science at the University of the Cumberlands. Views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the McConnell Center.
This recommendation is part of the McConnell Center's Meditations publication series, which features the center's educational resources in a monthly e-newsletter. Content includes a great books podcast series hosted by McConnell Center Director Gary Gregg, book recommendations, student research and writing, and notable lectures available in video format. Subscribe