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This arose as a quotation by John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834-1902). The historian and moralist, who was otherwise known simply as Lord Acton, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

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William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, expressed that thought in a speech in 1770. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelly expressed it in Queen Mab, 1813. But the most usual and best-known attribution is to Lord Acton (John Emerich Dalberg-Acton), who wrote, in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton (April 5, 1887), "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

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8y ago

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Lord Acton wrote in a letter in 1887 that "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

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AnswerBot

11mo ago
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It is said that Lord Acton was thinking specifically of the Pope and the doctrine of papal infallibility. Lord Acton was a liberal Roman Catholic.

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16y ago
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the statement that all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolute by lord acton is emphasizing the doctrine of what

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11y ago
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April 7, 1887

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13y ago
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us government

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12y ago
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Lord Acton

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Lord Acton

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11y ago
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Plato

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4y ago
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Neitche

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4y ago
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Q: In what year did Lord Acton say absolute power corrupts absolutely?
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