The undersigned confesses the significant negligence of not reading, ever, the Postscript to The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. In "Fulfillment: A Commentary on the Constitution," Professor Bailyn is at his writerly best in the Prostscript, he writes almost lyrically for a scholar in a scholarly work. He uses repetition for emphasis, the short or sentence fragment for boldness, he reprints a short poem. Professor Bailyn venerates the Constitution, it is clear. And the men who made it. The Constitution is nearly a miracle creation of god-like men.

more...scrutiny and commentary than has been given to any document except the Bible. No one has mastered [it]... no on ever will. There is too much...The subject matters too much...

It is as nearly moving as a scholar is permitted to be.

No, I do not now think that Professor Bailyn endured crisis in confronting the pamphlets of the Revolution, whatever he meant by writing the book "during a difficult time." Or if he did he fucking got over it, so you see where this is going with me.