The English Jacobins: Reformers in Late 18th Century England

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Scribner, 1968 - 248 páginas
"The English Jacobins is the first full-scale study of the English reformers of the late eighteenth century, called "Jacobins" by their enemies who feared a repetition of the radical excesses of revolutionary France. Professor Cone describes the rise of reform organizations during the controversy in Parliament over John Wilkes in the 1760's, and he charts their progress until they were disbanded, temporarily, after the sedition trials of 1794. Analyzing the goals and accomplishments of the reformers, Professor Cone stresses that they worked for constitutional and civil - not social or economic - changes. They were, in fact, more interested in restoring "Anglo-Saxon" liberties and the benefits of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 than in carrying out the ideas of Rousseau or the example of the Paris Commune. If there were foreign influences on the English radicals, these were provided by the former American colonists who had used committees of correspondence and constituent assemblies to such good effect. Professor Cone considers the fluctuating fortunes of the reformers over thirty years of activity. At various times the radicals had important allies in Parliament, like Charles James Fox and William Pitt, and included in their number were such accomplished figures as Richard Price the moral philosopher and Joseph Priestley the chemist, and other prominent Dissenting ministers. The "Jacobins" enjoyed their greatest publicity when Tom Paine replied to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France with his own Rights of Man and in the pamphlet war that followed. Yet the radicals' efforts had little immediate effect on law or Parliamentary representation. Professor Cone points out that the importance of the English Jacobins lies in their educational function, in having instructed a generation in the issues and techniques of reform. When another generation of radicals actually did reform Parliament in 1832, they owed much of their success to the issues raised and the example provided by their "Jacobin" forebears." --from inside jacket.

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ASSUMPTIONS
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THAT HAPPY CONSTITUTION
19
TAKE YOUR CHOICE
40
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