The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

"The book first appeared as the introduction to a proposed four-volume series of what Professor Bailyn thought were key documents in understanding the American political mind. Ideological Origins of the American Revolution argues that ideas were central to the American Revolution. Bailyn described the Americans, on the eve of the Revolution, as believing that a conspiracy had taken over British politics, causing power to fall into the hands of a few corrupt people and that caused revolutionaries resolved to stand up for a purer form of politics. “American independence was a setback for Native American people” Ideological Origins of the American Revolution was the most popular book that focused on the intellectual life of the Revolution; it won many prizes. It probably remains a key text for students, especially graduate students, in universities today. Bailyn and Morgan were the giants of the field in the fifties and sixties and seventies. Before World War Two, perhaps looking at the Russian Revolution, some historians rummaged through the American Revolution looking for evidence that landed interests and class competition lay behind the ideas espoused by the founders. Morgan and Bailyn showed the shortcomings of looking at events through such a narrow lens. Bailyn looked at the evidence and found no sign in the pamphlets from the period of class competition within the white American population, so he returned attention to the importance of ideas in igniting the Revolution."

"The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution is probably the most important book written about the Revolution. It was written over 50 years ago, but it still dominates the field. Bailyn outlines the ideas that justified the break from Great Britain. He puts it all together in the most succinct and powerful form. History should be contextual, but not everyone is interested in context. The first half of the 20th century was dominated by quasi-Marxist interpretations of history. Bailyn doesn’t deny the importance of economic factors, he simply doesn’t believe that economics explain all. Our lives are shaped by complicated forces, including ideas; so is our history."