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To: snarkpup

You have to get hold of Michael Barone’s book “Our First Revolution” which is the story of how William of Orange (Holland) became King of England in 1688 and the subsequent overhaul of the British Parliament that set in place the principles that were part of the American Revolution and are still affecting former British colonies around the world today. It’s kind of a difficult book because it’s packed with so much information of everything that was going on at the same time and you can kind of get lost in the details and the names but if you persevere you will get a really good insight into the history of the time. William’s real goal was to defeat Louis 15 of France who was determined to totally take over Europe but he needed Britain’s help to stop him so he had to depose the British James who supported Louis. All the political goings-on back then were just as crazy as they are today. My husband and I had a lot of fun reading this one out loud to each other.


12 posted on 12/24/2009 8:09:53 AM PST by Albertafriend
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To: Albertafriend
You have to get hold of Michael Barone’s book “Our First Revolution”

Thanks, I'll check it out. There's also another book on the same subject, The Glorious Revolution: 1688-Britain's Fight for Liberty by Edward Vallance, that got good reviews for readability that I'll also look into.

What I'm doing is working my way backward through history. Friedrich Hayek seems to have gotten many of his ideas from the American Founders, who in turn got ideas from earlier stuff like Cato's Letters and The Independent Whig by Trenchard & Gordon, which I believe was in turn based on the Revolution of 1688 you are referring to.

The reason I'm researching the root sources of the idea of limited government in olden times is that it looks like we are going to have to rediscover/reinvent the concept once again.

22 posted on 12/24/2009 8:40:29 AM PST by snarkpup ("If you can't run anywhere, become stronger than anyone!" - Lt. Cmdr. Lyar von Ertiana)
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