Walter Bagehot: “The Americans of 1787 thought they were copying the English…”

On the record

The Americans of 1787 thought they were copying the English Constitution, but they were contriving a contrast to it.

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Walter Bagehot

Source

Bagehot notes that while Americans believed they were emulating the English Constitution, they were actually creating a distinct alternative.

More from Walter Bagehot

But the Jewish advantage never did so; beginning in religion, contrary to a thousand analogies, it remained religious.

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.

He could have found the truth as a statesman just as he found it when a judge; but he never did find it.

Savages waste away before modern civilisation; they seem to have held their ground before the ancient.

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Walter Bagehot: “The Americans of 1787 thought they were copying the English Constitution, but they were contriving a contrast to it.”