In a landmark work, a leading scholar of the eighteenth century
examines the ways in which an understanding of the nature of history
influenced the thinking of the founding fathers.
As Jack P. Greene has observed, "[The Whig] conception saw the
past as a continual struggle between liberty and virtue on one hand
and arbitrary power and corruption on the other." Many founders
found in this intellectual tradition what Josiah Quincy, Jr., called
the "true old English liberty," and it was this Whig
tradition-this conception of liberty-that the champions of American
independence and crafters of the new republic sought to perpetuate.
Colbourn supports his thesis-that "Independence was in large
measure the product of the historical concepts of the men who made
it"-by documenting what books were read most widely by the
founding generation. He also cites diaries, personal correspondence,
newspapers, and legislative records.
Trevor Colbourn is President Emeritus of the University of
Central Florida.
