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The Origin and Principles of the American Revolution is perhaps one of the most important books written on the American Revolution by a European author. It is an original study of the subject by a conservative, objective German observer who acknowledges the legitimacy of the American Revolution, but also asserts at the same time that it was not a revolution but a legitimate transition.

In this modern edition by Liberty Fund, Gentz makes a convincing and eloquent case in presenting—and defending— the American Revolution as an event of moderation founded on custom and prescriptive rights. Gentz further defends the colonists by stating they were acting as preservationists of their existing rights. Gentz believed the American Revolution should be understood not as a revolution, but as a secession.

The Liberty Fund edition is supplemented by a new introduction and annotations that provide the reader with historical and contextual background to better create a more robust picture of Friedrich Gentz's thought.

“The Revolution of North America, had, in the course of events, been the nearest neighbor to that of France. A very considerable part of those, who were cotemporaries and witnesses of the letter had likewise survived the former. Some of the most important personages, who made a figure in the French revolution scarce ten years before, had been active on the theatre of that in America.”

Friedrich von Gentz

Friedrich von Gentz (1764–1832) -  German conservative political theorist. Admirer of the English political system of checks and balances, Gentz was critical of the French Revolution. He translated (1793) Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. He conducted a relentless polemical campaign against Napoleon I, advocating civic liberties and the rule of law against egalitarian autocracy and illegitimate imperialism. Prussian neutrality led him to move from Berlin to Vienna (1802), where he advised on Austrian foreign policy and (1812) became secretary to Metternich. A powerful figure in Austrian and European politics, he served as secretary-general of the Congresses of Vienna, Aachen, Laibach, Troppau, and Verona, supporting the old order against the new without exception: in the Balkans, Spain, and Latin America.