ABSTRACT
Adam Ferguson's political program contained, essentially, two points: first, the necessity of maintaining and strengthening the existent structure of law and order; and second, the desirability of infusing that structure with a vigorous sense of purpose and elan. While the political meaning of the Douglas controversy was diluted by other elements, there was no such confusion in Ferguson's pamphlet against the apologists for the American Revolution. He was prepared to urge consideration for every legitimate request for redress of grievances; he maintained, in fact, that the colonists had a rightful grievance against the restrictive mercantilist policies of Parliament; but he insisted that no grievance could justify unconstitutional procedures. Ferguson, then, agreed completely with the dominant groups in Scottish society about the form and distribution of socio-political power. In an important sense, then, even Ferguson's decisions to stay out of political controversy were political acts.
