The Great Demarcation Between Public and Private

Abstract

One of the major consequences of the Revolution was a clarification of the demarcation between private and public. In the ancien régime of the colonial period, the distinction between private and public had often been blurred. Social authority seemed to be a prerequisite to political authority, which enabled private individuals to conduct public affairs as if they were their own private business. The state was weak and used its legal authority to entice or compel private individuals to undertake things on behalf of the public. This was seen most clearly in the use of the corporation. All this was changed by the Revolution. Within a few years following the Declaration of Independence, the relation between state and society, pubic and private, including the nature of the corporation, had been transformed.