BURGH, James.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Political Disquisitions: Or, An Enquiry into public Errors, Defects, and Abuses. First edition of this seminal work of republicanism, a demonstration of the dangers of monarchical tyranny which profoundly influenced the founding fathers. John Adams praised Political Disquisitions as a work which "ought to be in the hands of every American" (quoted in Wood, p. 165). James Burgh (1714-1775) was among the most prominent Commonwealthmen of the late 18th century, drawing on the Glorious Revolution to emphasize limited government and individual liberty. In the Political Disquisitions, he advocates a model of mixed government with annual parliaments, secret ballots, and universal suffrage for male taxpayers. The Political Disquisitions were cited approvingly in Paine's Common Sense and in the Federalist Papers, while Washington, Jefferson, and Hancock are listed among the subscribers to the first US edition of 1775. Caroline Robbins judged it "perhaps the most important political treatise which appeared in England in the first half of the reign of George III" (p. 365).

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