Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Daveinyork
it put in place a Constitution that based tenure on election, rather than accident of birth, and that was a revolutionary idea in the 18th century.

Not so much. The Glorious Revolution of the previous century had given ultimate power to the electorate in Britain. The electorate, to be sure, was a rather small subset of the population, but the principle was obviously one that would be expanded. And Britain was more or less the only country where it applied, the rest of Europe being absolutist.

Our revolution was essentially an attempt to maintain these principles against what the colonists saw as threats.

The truly revolutionary idea was that "all men are created equal." Not just a privileged electorate.

28 posted on 07/20/2012 8:32:13 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies ]


To: Sherman Logan

Revolutions often start out with those principles, but devolve into civil war and military dictatorship. Ours could have gone that way, and a lesser man in charge would have staged a military coup when his officers demanded it of him.

Our revolutionaries included some radicals, called at the time levellors, but, cooler heads prevailed, and we had George Washington in charge of the army.


29 posted on 07/21/2012 11:46:53 AM PDT by Daveinyork
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson