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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 The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967)

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More quotes by Bernard Bailyn

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

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967)

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

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967)

On the evening of October 14, 1774, the Massachusetts delegates were invited to Carpenters' Hall by a group of Philadelphians to do "a little business."

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967)

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

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967)

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

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Bernard Bailyn (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.