"In the last decade of the colonial period the ideal of the man of public virtue was made real in the person of William Pitt. The cult of this noblest of Whigs, "the Genius of England and the Comet of his Age" was well advanced toward idolatry at least five years before the Stamp Act. The greatest of "the great men of England", the last and noblest of the Romans, was considered the embodiment of virtue, wisdom, patriotism, liberty, and temperance... Pitt, "glorious and immortal", the "guardian of America", was the idol of the colonies. His eloquent arguments against taxation without representation were repaid in full measure by a grateful people. Ships, towns, and babies bore the proud name of Pitt; preachers, orators, and poets celebrated his Roman virtues."
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Prime Ministers of the United KingdomPoliticians from EnglandPeople from LondonUniversity of Oxford alumniWhig (British political party) politicians
Original Language: English
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Sources
Clinton Rossiter, Seedtime of the Republic: The Origin of the American Tradition of Political Liberty (1953), pp. 145, 359–360
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Pitt%2C_1st_Earl_of_Chatham
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William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
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