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Top 20 Bernard Bailyn Quotes (2025 Update)

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “For the primary goal of the American Revolution which transferred American life and introduced a new era in human history, was not the overthrow or even the alteration of the existing social order but the preservation of political liberty threatened by the apparent corruption of the constitution, and the establishment in principle of the existing conditions of liberty.”

1. “For the primary goal of the American Revolution which transferred American life and introduced a new era in human history, was not the overthrow or even the alteration of the existing social order but the preservation of political liberty threatened by the apparent corruption of the constitution, and the establishment in principle of the existing conditions of liberty.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “Instantly available without continuous presence is probably the best role a mother can play.”

2. “Instantly available without continuous presence is probably the best role a mother can play.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “In England the practice of “virtual” representation provided reasonably well for the actual representation of the major interests of the society, and it raised no widespread objection.”

3. “In England the practice of “virtual” representation provided reasonably well for the actual representation of the major interests of the society, and it raised no widespread objection.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “The fact that the ministerial conspiracy against liberty had risen from corruption was of the utmost importance to the colonists.”

4. “The fact that the ministerial conspiracy against liberty had risen from corruption was of the utmost importance to the colonists.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “The full bibliography of pamphlets relating to the Anglo-American struggle published in the colonies through the year 1776 contains not a dozen or so items but over four hundred;...”

5. “The full bibliography of pamphlets relating to the Anglo-American struggle published in the colonies through the year 1776 contains not a dozen or so items but over four hundred;...”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “Defiance to constituted authority leaped like a spark from one flammable area to another, growing in heat as it went.”

6. “Defiance to constituted authority leaped like a spark from one flammable area to another, growing in heat as it went.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “Everyone knew that democracy-direct rule by all the people-required such spartan, sel denying virtue on the part of all the people that it was likely to survive only where poverty made upright behavior necessary for the perpetuation of the race.”

7. “Everyone knew that democracy-direct rule by all the people-required such spartan, sel denying virtue on the part of all the people that it was likely to survive only where poverty made upright behavior necessary for the perpetuation of the race.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “The categories within which the colonists thought about the social foundations of politics were inheritances from classical antiquity, reshaped by seventeenth century English thought.”

8. “The categories within which the colonists thought about the social foundations of politics were inheritances from classical antiquity, reshaped by seventeenth century English thought.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “It was an elevating, transforming vision: a new, fresh, vigorous, and above all morally regenerate people rising from the obscurity to defend the battlements of liberty and then in triumph standing forth, heartening and sustaining the cause of freedom everywhere.”

9. “It was an elevating, transforming vision: a new, fresh, vigorous, and above all morally regenerate people rising from the obscurity to defend the battlements of liberty and then in triumph standing forth, heartening and sustaining the cause of freedom everywhere.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “The classics of the ancient world are everywhere in the literature of the Revolution, but thet are everywhere illustrative, not determinative, of thought.”

10. “The classics of the ancient world are everywhere in the literature of the Revolution, but thet are everywhere illustrative, not determinative, of thought.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “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.”

11. “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.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “That by 1774 the final crisis of the constitution, brought on by political and social corruption, had been reached was, to most informed colonists, evident;...”

12. “That by 1774 the final crisis of the constitution, brought on by political and social corruption, had been reached was, to most informed colonists, evident;...”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “At first the relevance of chattel slavery to libertarian ideals was noted only in individual passages of isolated pamphlets.”

13. “At first the relevance of chattel slavery to libertarian ideals was noted only in individual passages of isolated pamphlets.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “Never had Parliament or the crown, or both together, operated in actuality as theory indicated sovereign powers should.”

14. “Never had Parliament or the crown, or both together, operated in actuality as theory indicated sovereign powers should.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “Whatever deficiencies the leaders of the American Revolution may have had, reticence, fortunately, was not one of them.”

15. “Whatever deficiencies the leaders of the American Revolution may have had, reticence, fortunately, was not one of them.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “What gave transcendent importance to the aggressiveness of power was the fact that its natural prey, its necessary victim, was liberty, or law, or right.”

16. “What gave transcendent importance to the aggressiveness of power was the fact that its natural prey, its necessary victim, was liberty, or law, or right.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “That is to say, their thoughts came higglety-pigglety out of the big, buzzing, booming confusion of their minds, too many pouring out chaotically in the same instant.”

17. “That is to say, their thoughts came higglety-pigglety out of the big, buzzing, booming confusion of their minds, too many pouring out chaotically in the same instant.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “In effect the people were present through their representatives, and were themselves, step by step and point by point, acting in the conduct of public affairs. No longer merely an ultimate check on government, they were in some sense the government.”

18. “In effect the people were present through their representatives, and were themselves, step by step and point by point, acting in the conduct of public affairs. No longer merely an ultimate check on government, they were in some sense the government.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “Every major feature of the modern United States – from racial equality to Social Security, from the Pentagon to the suburb – represents a repudiation of Jeffersonianism.”

19. “Every major feature of the modern United States – from racial equality to Social Security, from the Pentagon to the suburb – represents a repudiation of Jeffersonianism.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “The theory of politics that emerges from the political literature of the pre-Revolutionary years rests on the belief that what lay behind every political scene, the ultimate explanation of every political controversy, was the disposition of power.”

20. “The theory of politics that emerges from the political literature of the pre-Revolutionary years rests on the belief that what lay behind every political scene, the ultimate explanation of every political controversy, was the disposition of power.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “In no obvious sense was the American Revolution undertaken as a social revolution.”

21. “In no obvious sense was the American Revolution undertaken as a social revolution.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “The wielders of power did not speak for it, nor did they naturally serve it. Their interest was to use and develop power, no less natural and necessary than liberty but more dangerous.”

22. “The wielders of power did not speak for it, nor did they naturally serve it. Their interest was to use and develop power, no less natural and necessary than liberty but more dangerous.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “What Americans were really objecting to had nothing to do with constitutional principles. their objection was not to Parliament’s constitutional right to levy certain kinds of taxes as opposed to others, but to its effort to collect any.”

23. “What Americans were really objecting to had nothing to do with constitutional principles. their objection was not to Parliament’s constitutional right to levy certain kinds of taxes as opposed to others, but to its effort to collect any.”

— Bernard Bailyn

Bernard Bailyn Quote: “But are we to accept a form of government which we do not entirely approve of, merely in hopes that it will be administered well? Does not every man know, that nothing is more liable to be abused than power. Power, without a check, in any hands, is tyranny;.”

24. “But are we to accept a form of government which we do not entirely approve of, merely in hopes that it will be administered well? Does not every man know, that nothing is more liable to be abused than power. Power, without a check, in any hands, is tyranny;.”

— Bernard Bailyn

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