Ever the conservative, Russell Kirk attempted to demonstrate the unoriginality of the American Revolution. To him, ours was “a revolution not made but prevented,” a conservative revolt against the novelty of George III’s centralizing rule and Parliament’s departure from past practice into direct taxation of the colonies. Kirk distinguished the American experience from that of other nations during the so-called “Age of Democratic Revolution.” What was truly novel about America’s experience for Kirk was that it had undergone a political “revolution” precisely while escaping the ideological novelty of the age. . . .