The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

Bailyn argues that the meaning given to the British government’s actions after 1763 by a particular pattern of ideas that developed a worldview, and “not simply an accumulation of grievances” (22), led the American colonists to revolt. Scholars were already familiar with the intellectual influence of John Locke and other Enlightenment thinkers on Revolutionary leaders as well as the influence of the traditions of English common law, ancient Greek and Roman writings, and Puritan covenant theology that suggested America had a special role in God’s plan. However, another set of ideas drawn from the writings of 18th-century Commonwealthmen (or Radical Whigs) in England were the most important influence shaping the thought of the American Revolutionary generation.

Cato’s Letters by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon conveys the radicals’ “opposition” view that Prime Minister Walpole’s extension of ministerial influence was corrupt, and this work was widely published and read in the American colonies. Trenchard and Gordon, both Commonwealthmen, espoused the view that human history shows the preservation of liberty depends on the vigilance and morality of the people to maintain effective checks on a nation’s