Defining the Common Good Empire, Religion and Philosophy in Eighteenth-Century Britain

This book discusses the crisis of the early modern state in eighteenth-century Britain and sets it in its European context. The American Revolution and the simultaneous demand for wider religious toleration at home challenged the principles of sovereignty and obligation that underpinned arguments about the character of the state. At stake was a fundamental challenge to the way in which politics was described. The Americans and their British supporters argued that individuals, by voting and thinking freely, ought to determine the "common good." These influential ideas continue to resonate today in the principles of "one man, one vote" and "freedom of thought."

The theme of this book is the crisis of the early modern state in eighteenth-century Britain. The revolt of the North American colonies and the simultaneous demand for wider religious toleration at home challenged the principles of sovereignty and obligation that underpinned arguments about the character of the state. These were expressed in terms of the 'common good', 'necessity', and 'community' - concepts that came to the fore in early modern European political thought and which gave expression to the problem of defining legitimate authority in a period of increasing consciousness of state power. The Americans and their British supporters argued that individuals ought to determine the common good of the community. A new theory of representation and freedom of thought defines the cutting edge of this revolutionary redefinition of the basic relationship between individual and community.

Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. The figure of Cicero; 2. A classical landscape; 3. State and empire; 4. The limits of sovereignty and obligation; 5. The common good, toleration and freedom of thought; 6. 'Alternatives' to the common good 1774–1776; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

This book discusses the crisis of the early modern state in eighteenth-century Britain sparked off by the American revolution. It sets the crisis in its European context and traces the evolution of influential political ideas which continue to resonate today in the principles of 'one man, one vote' and 'freedom of thought'.