American school kids learn about the importance of 1776. (At least I hope they still learn about that important year.)
But few of them spend much time studying 1688-1689. Repeat John Locke Foundation Headliner Michael Barone hopes to draw attention to those earlier years with his latest book, Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America’s Founding Fathers (Crown).
Barone makes the case that the Glorious Revolution of the 17th century set the stage for the American colonists’ revolt less than 90 years later:
The Revolutionary settlement also provided a template for the colonial rebels. Its guarantees of representative government and individual rights to Englishmen were taken by the colonials as promises to them ? promises that they came to believe had been broken….
Americans were thus not rebelling against the Revolutionary settlement. They were seeking to preserve in their own states what they believed the Revolution of 1688-89 had established.
Whether you buy or dismiss Barone’s argument, you’re likely to enjoy the stories of Charles II, James II, William of Orange, and the other key players in the events that transformed British and American government.
You’ll even see a few mentions of this foundation’s namesake, and you’ll learn more about this guy Shaftesbury that we honor with a luncheon speech each Monday.
