Sometimes called reluctant revolutionaries, these leaders lacked a strong trust in the people to rise above their own self interest and provide for enlightened legislative policies (see public virtue). At the time of the American Revolution, they argued in favour of forms of government that could easily cheque the popular will. To assure political stability, they believed that political decision making should be in the hands of society's proven social and economic elite. John Dickinson, John Adams (very much an eager revolutionary), and Robert Morris might be described as cautious revolutionaries. See radical revolutiorlaries.