The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn

“The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.” Now, that sounded “serious”. I actually still have a mental picture in my mind of seeing the title on the spine of the book and pulling it off the shelf. So I went down to the Brooklyn Public Library and started scanning the 973 shelves. After a few years of that, I came to the point where I felt like I’d read enough of that stuff and really wanted to read “more serious” (or scholarly) books about the Revolution. I had been reading heavily in popular books on both the American Revolution and the history of Western philosophy. I first encountered Ideological Origins at the Brooklyn Public Library in 2005. My Personal Origins with Ideological Origins Therefore, rather than rehashing what the book meant when it was published or what it has meant to historians living with it for decades, this roundtable is dedicated to exploring what the book means now. After all, perhaps the most impressive achievement of Ideological Origins is that fifty years after its publication it is still being read, assigned, and reckoned with by a new generation of scholars. This Junto roundtable, “The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution at 50″ (#IOTAR50), aims to offer junior scholars a chance to reflect on this book’s impact on them and, by extension, its continuing significance and influence on the newest generation of early American historians.

However, all of these have had one thing in common they have been almost solely the product of senior historians who perceptively discussed the book’s long-term impact and the debates that surrounded it, both around its publication and in the immediate decades afterward. Since then, other tributes to the book and its long-term influence and impact have appeared online. The conference papers, presentations, and discussion were quite lively, as was Bailyn himself who delivered a 75-minute talk on the opening evening. Throughout the winter of 2016-17, I helped organize “Ideological Origins at 50,” a conference jointly sponsored by the USC-EMSI and Yale’s CHESS to honor the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Bernard Bailyn’s seminal work, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. For readers unfamiliar with the book (or looking for a refresher), please see Episode 12 of The JuntoCast. Each of the five posts will appear on both blogs concurrently. This week The Junto is co-sponsoring, “The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution at 50,” a weeklong roundtable on Bernard Bailyn’s seminal work with the Society for U.S.

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn