ABSTRACT
Consider democracy. In America it became part of that ‘revolution in the principles and practice of governments’ (Paine, 1969, pt. 2, p. 181), which accompanied and transcended the successful struggle for colonial independence. In Britain it implied a new set of political relationships within the old institutional order. Democracy in both countries, however, was not only a political concern. Nineteenth-century philosophical discourse also explored the moral, cultural and economic implications of this novel ideal. Sometimes democracy needed such theoretical justifications as the drunk needs the lamp-post, more for support than for illumination. However, the century recreated in itself a new ‘spirit of the age’. A democratic tradition in America and in Britain was part of this invention.
