Words and Phrases in American Politics

SNE OF the main difficulties with which the authors of a political dictionary have to cope arises from the habit of historical writers of introducing the political vocabulary of their own days into descriptions of earlier events. In a very scholarly book about New York politics before the outbreak of the Revolution, the author constantly refers to the Sons of Liberty as the 'radicals.' In such a case the lexicographer, although fairly convinced that 'radical' as a party designation was not known as early as 1776, will not find it safe to disregard the possibility that a thorough investigation might show that the word in question is older than he had assumed. It follows that he must either leave the question undecided or start a time-consuming investigation that may very well turn out to be a wild goose chase. A case in point is the term still hunt. In Everett Dick's Dixie Frontier (1949), p. 241, the author writes

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