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GILLIAN BROWN, The Consent of the Governed: The Lockean Legacy in Early American Culture. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001. Pp. 256. $52.50.
Reviewed by Nancy L. Erickson, Iowa Wesleyan College
Gillian Brown's study of eighteenth-century American primers, fables, and novels provides an insightful analysis of the manner in which the broader culture is reflected in children's literature and in fiction produced for a mass audience. Well before the American Revolution became a reality the concept of self-determination was instilled in the colonial psyche. When legislating the principle that "government derives from the consent of the governed" the founding fathers were merely evoking a conviction that had been repeated for decades in the New England Primer and other texts and fables.
John Locke's Second Treatise of Government and Thoughts Concerning Education were widely read and highly influential in the colonies. More than any other philosopher Locke is responsible for disseminating the ideas that ultimately led to the separation of the American colonies from England. Locke's theory posits consent as...