ABSTRACT
after the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 a sharp change occurred in the nature of English political Radicalism, the advocates of which, hitherto, with signal unanimity, had urged only the reform of the House of Commons within the framework of mixed government. The democracy of these reformers, as has been seen, extended only to the reform of the democratic branch of the mixed government. The change after 1789 was due to the activities of three men—Joseph Priestley (1733–1804), Thomas Paine (1737–1809), and William Godwin (1756–1836)—who were ‘pure’ or ‘unmixed’ democrats because they rejected the theory of mixed government, denounced the hereditary principle in government, and demanded the abolition of the House of Lords. When, in the following pages, these men are called democrats, it should be understood that they advocated an ‘unmixed’ democracy, the principles of which were in direct contradistinction to those of the classical theory. They usually favored a democratic republic.
