The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

Bernard Bailyn. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. [Enlarged Edition] 
Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1967, 1992.

Bailyn's book, which is now an acknowledged classic, still stands the test of time as a useful intellectual history of the Revolutionary period, in spite of its tendency towards a "Whiggish" if not teleological viewpoint. Originating as an introduction to a multi-volume publication reprinting an enormous collection of pamphlets from the Revolutionary era, Bailyn argued that this literature presented a broader view of the intellectual climate of the era, as well as new insights into the well-known literature scholars were already familiar with.

Bailyn makes his viewpoint clear in the first chapter; on page 19 he states that

"What was essentially involved in the American Revolution was not the disruption of society, with all the fear, despair, and hatred that that entails, but the realization, the comprehension and fulfillment, of the inheritance of liberty and of what was taken to be America's destiny in the context of world history."

This is problematic, not just because Bailyn is staking out a position very different than that argued later by his own protege Gordon Wood--let along later scholars who would argue that even Wood is essentially Whiggish although he did regard the Revolution as truly "revolutionary" rather than merely the culmination of a logical intellectual process, but also because it is clear that while Bailyn's study pays a great deal of attention to what a wide swath of the literate colonial population was writing and publishing, he spends a great deal less trying to unravel who was reading these pamphlets, as well as how they were reading them.

That said, his argument still merits attention even a full half-century after its initial publication. Given that it is such a widely read classic, it probably isn't necessary to recount the outlines of his major points. I will, however, note a couple of core strengths the book still possesses.

First, the emphasis on both the Enlightenment as experienced in the provincial world, as well as the legacy of the first Great Awakening would have been interesting at that; the way in which Bailyn argues that these two seemingly incompatible ideologies actually shared many common assumptions and often reinforced each other in the ways they played out socially and culturally is a fascinating insight--a reminder that ideologies often "work" in ways that don't necessarily fit preconceived notions of how they "should."

Secondly, the ways in which the colonials understand English common law in their own context is fascinating.

And finally, of course, there is his argument that the legacy of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 largely framed and informed the intellectual climate the colonists worked in--and the ways in which they understand their place in the British Empire. This might be the most important legacy of Bailyn's book, and while I take issue with many aspects of his conceptual approach, this book still merits a great deal of respect for having opened this avenue of interpretation.