Clinton Lawrence Rossiter IIIClinton Lawrence Rossiter III, (1917-1970) American historian, political scientist Cornell University

Clinton Lawrence Rossiter III Quote

“The Americans of 1776 were among the first men in modern society to defend rather than to seek an open society and constitutional liberty.... Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of this political theory sits in its deep-seated conservatism. However radical the principles of the Revolution may have seemed to the rest of the world, in the minds of the colonists they were thoroughly preservative and respectful of the past.”

Clinton Lawrence Rossiter IIIClinton Lawrence Rossiter III
~ Clinton Lawrence Rossiter III

Seedtime of the Republic, 1953

Ratings and Comments


Kris, Topeka

Kind of wordy.

Constance Ashton Myers, Columbia, South Carolina

It is a "wordy" quotation, as one commentator observed. But it rings true. Those politicians today that profess to be "conservative" proceed methodically to take apart the politico-economic structure of the past, board by board. The replacement military-police structure would likely horrify the earlier architects.

Bill Dillon, Poquito Bayou

Sorry that Kris was overwhelmed by the number of words but had nothing to say about our Founding truths.

Mike, Norwalk

(-: it was the founding liberals that wanted to conserve nature's law with its corresponding principles.

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