To BERNARD BAILYN-
whose insights into our revolutionary heritage have defined my
perspective for nearly fifty years. I believe Bailyn's writings are so
original and imaginative no one will ever convince me he was not alive
and present at the founding-listening, questioning, taking notes,
even participating in the thousands of conversations about conspiracy,
imperialism, corruption, and, yes, revolution, from 1760 on-when
Otis, Adams, Jefferson, Paine, and Madison "began our world anew."
My intellectual debt to him is incalculable.
To WILLIAM APPLEMAN WILLIAMS-
a dear friend, whose ongoing assessment of how revolutionary
America transformed itself from a beacon of hope in the world
into an imperial state is unmatched in modern American scholarship.
We spent many days together, sitting on the beach near
Waldport on the Oregon coast, leaning against an uprooted
Douglas fir, sipping "clarity," and considering every angle
of Jefferson's and Madison's theories about how and
why and when and where and to what degree we were a nation
dedicated to liberty. In every instance Bill never lost sight of the
American idea, and at the end he always reaffirmed the Revolution
of 1800. Moreover he did so with elegance, a touch of irony,
and, above all, a marvelous sense of humor.
