Scottish Invention of America, Democracy and Human Rights
Publisher: University Press of America
Published: April 2004
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 448
ISBN-13: 9780761827917
Subjects: History of specific subjects; Human rights; Philosophy; World history; History; History - General History; History: World; Europe - Great Britain - Scotland; World - General; History / World; Celts; Civilization, Celtic; Civilization, Modern; Scottish influences
Description: "The Scottish Invention of America, Democracy and Human Rights is a history of liberty from 1300 B.C. to 2004 A.D. The book traces the history of the philosophy and fight for freedom from the ancient Celts to the creation of America, asserting the roots of liberty originated in the radical political thought of the ancient Celts, the Scots' struggle for freedom, John Duns Scotus and the Arbroath Declaration (1320), a tradition that influenced Locke and the English Whig theorists as well as our Founding Fathers, particularly Jefferson, Madison, Wilson and Witherspoon. Author Alexander Klieforth argues the Arbroath Declaration (1320) and its philosophy was the intellectual foundation of the American Revolution and Declaration of Independence (1776). Thus, the work is a revolutionary alternative to the traditional Anglocentric view that freedom, democracy and human rights descended only from John Locke and England of the 1600s. The Scottish Invention of America, Democracy and Human Rights is the first historical analysis to locate and document the origin of the "consent of the governed" concept."--BOOK JACKET.