"The imperfection of all modern governments must, without waiting to repeat the trite remark, that all human institutions are unavoidably imperfect, in a great measure have arisen from this simple circumstance, that the constitution, if such an heterogeneous mass deserve that name, was settled in the dark days of ignorance, when the minds of men were shackled by the grossest prejudices and most immoral superstition."
A Vindication of the Rights of Men in a Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke
First edition appears in December of 1790. Second edition, with MW's name on the cover, published December 14. 2 entries in ESTC (1790).<br>
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Reading <u>The Vindications</u>. eds. D. L. Macdonald and Kathleen Scherf. (Toronto: Broadview Press, 2001). [Based on the 2nd ed.] See also edition at the Online Library of Liberty &lt;<a href="http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/991 on 2009-12-02">Link to OLL</a>&gt;.