"Politics is not the same as government though the two are of course intertwined (viii)." I am only moderately interested in political science but enjoyed reading the first chapter of this book by the eminent Colonial America historian on the bus trip to the VA, that being a well-written and detailed description of the UK government. The Crown patronage included 8,000 excise offices, giving the government a means to enlist supporters, much as the late 19th C. American patronage included thousands of fourth class postmasterships (issued $50 in stamps a year and they could keep the proceeds and left over stamps). Note the conditions needed for the Crown to remain in office, such as limited suffrage (not so many people to satisfy). The second of the three parts deals with the American colonial governments in royal, charter, and proprietary colonies. The governors were hard pressed to hold up the rights of the Crown, but were less restricted in what high handed actions they could take than in England.
American politics was part of 18th C. British politics and thus a new course was set with the Revolution (third chapter). In his research for Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967), Bailyn found that the beliefs of American revolutionists came from "the specific fears and formulations of early Eighteenth Century England who carried forward to the age of Walpole the peculiar strand of anti-authoritarianism bred in the upheaval of the English civil war (ix)." Bailyn asked himself why this angry vein of thought remained in America to explode in 1776, after mostly disappearing in England.
See page 57 for the paragraph with Bailyn's conclusion. Unfortunately, that paragraph is underlined in my hardback copy with dust cover of this book and would likely offend my PBS comrades, so I took it to the VA Hospital lobby book truck today where I am sure it was snapped up immediately. (All but two books on offer were romance novels and there were almost no magazines).
American politics was part of 18th C. British politics and thus a new course was set with the Revolution (third chapter). In his research for Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967), Bailyn found that the beliefs of American revolutionists came from "the specific fears and formulations of early Eighteenth Century England who carried forward to the age of Walpole the peculiar strand of anti-authoritarianism bred in the upheaval of the English civil war (ix)." Bailyn asked himself why this angry vein of thought remained in America to explode in 1776, after mostly disappearing in England.
See page 57 for the paragraph with Bailyn's conclusion. Unfortunately, that paragraph is underlined in my hardback copy with dust cover of this book and would likely offend my PBS comrades, so I took it to the VA Hospital lobby book truck today where I am sure it was snapped up immediately. (All but two books on offer were romance novels and there were almost no magazines).
