Never had Parliament or the crown, or both together, operated in actuality as theory indicated sovereign powers should.

The classics of the ancient world are everywhere in the literature of the Revolution, but thet are everywhere illustrative, not determinative, of thought

Never had Parliament or the crown, or both together, operated in actuality as theory indicated sovereign powers should.

Instantly available without continuous presence is probably the best role a mother can play.

In effect the people were present through their representatives, and were themselves, step by step and point by point, acting in the conduct of public affairs. No longer merely an ultimate check on government, they were in some sense the government.

The wielders of power did not speak for it, nor did they naturally serve it. Their interest was to use and develop power, no less natural and necessary than liberty but more dangerous.

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