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Modern Historians Confront the American Revolution

Mises Daily by Murray N.=20 Rothbard | Posted on 5/12/2007 12:00:00 AM

[This article was originally published in Literature of=20 Liberty.]

I. Basic Causes of the Revolution

The historian must be more than a chronicler, a mere lister of = events. For=20 his real task is discovering and setting forth the causal connections = between=20 events in human history, the complex chain of human purposes, choices, = and=20 consequences over time that have shaped the fate of mankind. = Investigating the=20 causes of such a portentous event as the American Revolution is more, = then, than=20 a mere listing of preceding occurrences; for the historian must weigh = the causal=20 significance of these factors, and select those of overriding = importance.

Constitutional Conflict Historians

What, then, were the basic and overarching causes of the American = Revolution?=20 The older view, dominant in the first two or three decades of the = twentieth=20 century, laid greatest emphasis on the conflict of constitutional ideas, = on the=20 fact that the American colonists saw the actions of Great Britain after = 1763 as=20 interfering with their constitutional rights as Englishmen. = Typical of=20 these works were Charles H. McIlwain, The American Revolution: A=20 Constitutional Interpretation. Randolph G. Adams, Political = Ideas=20 of the American Revolution: Britannic-American = Contributions to=20 the Problem of Imperial Organization, 1765=E2=80=931775; and = Claude H. Van=20 Tyne, The Causes of the War of Independence. While=20 constitutional interpretations and conflicts played a role, the entire = emphasis=20 came to seem to historians =E2=80=94 and properly so =E2=80=94 to be = stodgy and unsatisfactory;=20 for what event as wrenching and even cataclysmic as a revolution is ever = launched on the basis of mere legalisms, and legalisms that were often = dubious=20 at that? The "Constitutionalists" and other early writers, were closer = to the=20 mark in noting the influence of John Locke's libertarian natural rights=20 philosophy. Locke's influence was particularly stressed in Carl L. = Becker's=20 The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political = Ideas and at least mentioned by the other writers. But while the = assertion=20 of the natural rights of man could far better stir the passions than = mere legal=20 and constitutional differences, there was still a vital missing link: = for how=20 many colonists indeed sat down to read the abstract philosophy of John=20 Locke?

The Progressive Historians and the Economic = Dimension

The "Progressive" historians, dominant in the later 1920s and the = 1930s,=20 added another, and exciting dimension to the analysis of the causes of = the=20 American Revolution. For they added the important economic dimension = =E2=80=94 the=20 struggles over the British attempt to impose taxes, mercantile = restrictions, and=20 a monopoly over the importation of tea into the colonies. But the = Progressive=20 historians did more. Inspired by the overall work on American history of = Charles=20 A. Beard, the Progressives also posed a contrast to the constitutional = or=20 philosophic American motivations asserted by the older historians: = namely,=20 economic motivation and class interests. In short, the American leaders, = in=20 particular the wealthy merchants, struggled on behalf of their economic=20 interests, against British restrictions and tax levies.

Believing in the inevitability of class conflict, and seeing only the = merchants as driven by their economic interests toward rebellion, the=20 Progressives then had to explain two things: the continuing recourse to = ideas=20 and ideology by the American leaders, and the adoption of this ideology = by the=20 mass of the public. To explain this, the Progressives fell back on the = theory of=20 "propaganda" popular in the 1920s and 1930s: that the ideology = propounded by the=20 leaders was mere windy rhetoric which they never believed. The = "propaganda,"=20 they claimed, was used to dupe the masses into going along with the=20 revolutionary agitation.

"How many colonists indeed sat down to read the = abstract=20 philosophy of John Locke?"

The result was a curious "left-right" agreement between the = Progressives and=20 the minority of American historians of the "Imperial" school. The latter = maintained that the American Revolution was the result of the = unwarranted=20 propaganda of sinister agitators who succeeded in duping the masses to = break=20 their beneficent ties with the British Empire. The major works of the = "Imperial"=20 school are Lawrence H. Gipson, The British Empire Before the = American=20 Revolution, and George L. Beer, British Colonial Policy,=20 1754=E2=80=931765.

The writings of the Progressive historians are legion, ranging from = such=20 popular but poorly researched books as John C. Miller, Origins of = the=20 American Revolution, to Philip G. Davidson, Propaganda and the = American=20 Revolution, 1763=E2=80=931783, to the thorough and scholarly work = by Arthur M.=20 Schlesinger, Sr., The Colonial Merchants and the American = Revolution,=20 1763=E2=80=931776. The last gasp of the Progressive interpretation = in diluted form=20 is Merrill Jensen, The Founding of a Nation: A History of the = American=20 Revolution, 1763=E2=80=931776.

But ideas do count in human motivation. It is impossible to = read the=20 letters, or the published writings of the leaders, as well as of the = American=20 public, and doubt the passionate sincerity with which they held their=20 revolutionary ideas. Furthermore, the Progressives overlooked several = other=20 important points.

First, while the economic interpretation is often insightful in = gauging the=20 motivations for State action, particularly by small groups of pullers of = the=20 levers of State power, it is highly inadequate in explaining the motives = of mass=20 actions, especially revolutionary actions, against the State = =E2=80=94 whether=20 by leaders or by the public. For a revolution is a passionate and = radical,=20 indeed a revolutionary act. It is difficult to believe that a = people=20 will wrench themselves out of their habitual lives to risk at a blow = "their=20 lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor," from a mere chafing at a = tax or=20 at mercantile restrictions. There must be more to it than that.

And secondly, the economic interpretation overlooked the very nature = of the=20 libertarian ideology that moved the revolutionaries. This ideology = integrated=20 moral, political, and economic liberty. Therefore it integrated = all of=20 these revulsions against what these libertarians saw as British = invasions of=20 their rights. Neither the Constitutionalists, stressing the legal and=20 philosophic, nor the Progressives, stressing the economic grievances, = saw the=20 nature of the integrated whole of American revolutionary ideology.

The Consensus Interpretation

Neither did the "Consensus" school of historians, who became = ascendant in the=20 1940s and 1950s. Just as the Progressives reflected the Marxian outlook = of=20 American intellectuals of the 1930s, so the Consensus school reflected = the=20 neo-Conservative "American celebration" that typified intellectuals in=20 post-World War II America. The Consensus historians were anxious to see=20 consensus rather than conflict in American history. And since both = ideology and=20 economic interests can cause conflicts, both were discarded as causal = factors in=20 the American past. Instead, the Consensus school saw American history as = guided=20 not by "doctrinaire" ideas nor by economic interests but rather by a = flexible,=20 pragmatic, ad hoc approach to problem-solving. Since a = revolution can=20 hardly be a flexible approach to consensus, the American Revolution had = to be=20 written off as a mere localized "conservative" resistance to the British = government. Furthermore, by deprecating the revolutionary nature of the = American=20 Revolution, the Consensus school could isolate it from the indisputably = radical=20 French Revolution and other modern upheavals, and continue to denounce = the=20 latter as ideological and socially disruptive while seeming to embrace = the=20 founding heritage of America. The leading Consensus historians were = Daniel J.=20 Boorstin and Clinton Rossiter. On the American Revolution, their works = include:=20 Boorstin, The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson and The Americans: The = Colonial=20 Experience; and Rossiter, Seedtime of the Republic: the Origins = of the=20 American Tradition of Political Liberty. Also in this school, = stressing in=20 particular the alleged "democracy" of the American colonies, is Robert = E. Brown,=20 Middle-Class Democracy and the Revolution in Massachusetts,=20 1691=E2=80=931780.

"A revolution is a passionate and radical, indeed = a=20 revolutionary act."

Thus, by the end of the 1950s, American historians were further away = than=20 ever from appreciating the fact that the American revolution was truly=20 revolutionary. They did not perceive that it was largely animated by a=20 passionately held and radical libertarian ideology that integrated the = moral,=20 political, and economic reasons for rebelling against the British = imperial=20 regime. But the Consensus historians did make one important = contribution. They=20 restored the older idea of the American Revolution as a movement of the = great=20 majority of the American people. It replaced the view held by=20 Progressives and Imperialists alike that the revolution was a minority = action=20 imposed on a reluctant public. Particularly important in developing this = position was the judicious work by John Richard Alden, The American=20 Revolution, 1775=E2=80=931783, still the best one-volume book on = the revolutionary=20 war period. On the left, the Marxian historian Herbert Aptheker also = advanced=20 this position. He chided the 1930s Progressives for their opposition to = the=20 revolution as a minority class movement in The American Revolution,=20 1763=E2=80=931783.

In the stifling atmosphere of Consensus history, an important advance = came=20 with the publication of the first volume of the monumental two-volume = work of=20 Robert H. Palmer, The Age of the Democratic Revolution: A Political = History=20 of Europe and America, 1760=E2=80=931800, Vol. I: The Challenge. = Weaving together a=20 scintillating tapestry of trans-Atlantic history, Palmer vindicated the=20 radicalism of the American Revolution. He pointed to its decisive = inspirational=20 effect on the succeeding European revolutions of the late eighteenth = century, as=20 well as to the similarity of goals and ideologies. Palmer thereby = restored the=20 older tradition of linking these revolutions on both sides of the = Atlantic, as=20 did Jacques Godechot in France and the Atlantic Revolution of the = 18th=20 Century. Palmer also showed that: by one important criterion, the = American=20 Revolution was more radical than the French, since = proportionately far=20 more Tories were driven out of America than aristocrats were to be = exiled from=20 France. As a "European" historian, however, Palmer was not read by the=20 hermetically specialized guild of "American" historians.

Bailyn's Crucial Breakthrough

The crucial breakout from the miasma of American historiography of = the=20 Revolution came from one man. He was able by sheer force of scholarship = to=20 overthrow the Consensus and Progressive views and to establish a new=20 interpretation of the causes of the American Revolution. This was = Harvard=20 Professor Bernard Bailyn, who, breaking through the hermetic separation = of=20 European and American historians, found his inspiration in the great = work of=20 Caroline Robbins, The Eighteenth Century Commonwealthman. For = Bailyn=20 realized that Professor Robbins had discovered the "missing link" in the = transmission of radical libertarian thought after John Locke. She had = found it=20 in a group of dedicated writers, inspired by the English Revolution of = the=20 seventeenth century, who continued to reject the centrist Whig = settlement of the=20 eighteenth century. These writers carried forward the ideals of natural = rights=20 and individual liberty. In the course of editing a volume of = Revolutionary=20 pamphlets, Bailyn discovered that Americans were indeed influenced, on a = massive=20 scale, by these libertarian articles and pamphlets. Many of these = publications=20 were reprinted widely in the American colonies, and clearly influenced = the=20 revolutionary leaders. The most important shaper of this libertarian = viewpoint=20 was Cato's Letters, a series of newspaper articles in England = in the=20 early 1720s written by John Trenchard and his young disciple Thomas = Gordon. The=20 collected Cato's Letters were republished many times in = eighteenth=20 century England and America.

Trenchard and Gordon, and the other libertarian writers, transmuted = John=20 Locke's abstract and often guarded political philosophy into a = trenchant,=20 hard-hitting, and radical libertarian creed. Not only did men have = natural=20 rights of life, liberty, and property, which governments must not = invade, but=20 "Cato" and the other writers declared that government =E2=80=94 power = =E2=80=94 was always and=20 ever the great enemy of liberty, and stood ready to aggress against it. = Hence,=20 power must always be diminished as far as possible. Men must watch it=20 continually with utmost hostility and vigilance, lest it break its = bonds, and=20 destroy the rights of the individual. "Cato" particularly denounced the=20 propensity for tyranny of the British government of the day. This = message found=20 an eager reception in the American colonies.

"By deprecating the revolutionary nature of the = American=20 Revolution, the conservatives could isolate it from the indisputably = radical=20 French Revolution and other modern upheavals."

Thus, Bernard Bailyn established the American Revolution as at one = and the=20 same time genuinely radical and revolutionary. He showed that it was = motivated=20 largely by firmly and passionately held libertarian ideology, summed up = in the=20 phrase "the transforming libertarian radicalism" of the American = Revolution.=20 Bailyn's findings were first presented in the "General Introduction" to = his=20 edition of Pamphlets of the American Revolution, = 1750=E2=80=931776, Vol.=20 1, 1750=E2=80=931765. The only volume of pamphlets yet = published in the=20 series, it included the works of such revolutionary leaders as the Rev. = Jonathan=20 Mayhew, Thomas Fitch, James Otis, Oxenbridge Thacher, Daniel Dulany, and = John=20 Dickinson.

An expanded version was published as Bailyn, The Ideological = Origins of=20 the American Revolution. Also see the companion volume by Bailyn, = The=20 Origins of American Politics, which offered an excellent = explanation for=20 the British royal governors being weak in the eighteenth century at the = same=20 time that the King was dominant at home. A useful summary of the Bailyn = thesis=20 is provided by Bailyn's "The Central Themes of the American Revolution: = An=20 Interpretation" in S. Kurtz and J. Hutson, eds., Essays on the = American=20 Revolution. The scintillating writings of "Cato" have been = collected in an=20 excellently edited volume by David L. Jacobson, The English = Libertarian=20 Heritage.

One problem with the generally correct Bailyn thesis is its exclusive = emphasis on ideology, as it affected the minds and hearts of the = Americans.=20 Historians find it easy to slip into the view that the deep = ideologically=20 motivated hostility to Britain, while genuinely felt, was merely an = expression=20 of "paranoia." Indeed, Bailyn himself almost fell into this trap in his = recent=20 overly sympathetic biography of the leading Massachusetts Tory, = Thomas=20 Hutchinson. One of the best historians of this period, Edmund = Morgan, in=20 the New York Review of Books duly noted and warned against the = trap in=20 his review of this work.

An excellent corrective to this exclusive concentration on the = subjective is=20 the work of the most important political (as contrasted to ideological)=20 historians of the pre-Revolutionary period. In the definitive history of = the=20 Stamp Act crisis of 1765=E2=80=931766, Edmund and Helen Morgan = demonstrated the majority=20 nature of the revolutionary movement. They attacked, as well, the actual = depredations of Great Britain on American political and economic rights. = Edmund=20 and Helen Morgan, The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution. = Also=20 see the companion source book of documents, Edmund S. Morgan, ed., = Prologue=20 to Revolution: Sources and Documents on the Stamp Act Crisis, = 1764=E2=80=931766.=20 Particularly important is the monumental and definitive, though densely = written,=20 two volume political history of the coming of the American Revolution by = Bernhard Knollenberg, Origins of the American Revolution: = 1759=E2=80=931765;=20 and Growth of the American Revolution, 1766=E2=80=931775. By = examining British=20 archives, Knollenberg shows that the supposed paranoia and "conspiracy = theories"=20 of the American colonists were all too accurate. The British officials = were=20 indeed conspiring to invade the liberties of the American colonies after = the=20 "salutary neglect" of the pre-1763 period.

II. The Pre-Revolutionary Period

Political and Economic Conflicts

We are now fortunate in having the two-volume Knollenberg work, which = supplies by far the best political history of the events leading up to = the=20 outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Historians had long set 1763 as the = date for=20 the beginning of conflict between Britain and the colonies. = Knollenberg's=20 Origins pushes the date back to 1759, toward the end of the = American=20 phase of the Seven Years War between Britain and France.

"Cato and the other writers declared = that=20 government =E2=80=94 power =E2=80=94 was always and ever the great enemy = of liberty, and stood=20 ready to aggress against it."

Jack P. Greene has shown that the Board of Trade, headed by the = imperialist=20 Lord Halifax, had tried abortively to impose British restrictions on the = colonies in the late 1740s and early 1750s. The Board's attempt was = finally=20 halted by the outbreak of war with France. See Jack P. Greene, "An = Uneasy=20 Connection: An Analysis of the Preconditions of the American = Revolution," in=20 Kurtz and Hutson, eds., Essays on the American Revolution.

John Shy's Toward Lexington: The Role of the British Army in the = Coming=20 of the American Revolution is a judicious discussion of British = army=20 policies and conflicts in this period, although favorable to the British = position. Howard H. Peckham's Pontiac and the Indian Uprising = now=20 replaces the venerable classic by Francis Parkman, The Conspiracy of = Pontiac as the best account of Pontiac's notable uprising.

The Western lands were highly important in the politics of this = period. The=20 best accounts of the intricate connection between government policy, = land=20 speculation, and Western conquest are still Clarence W. Alvord, = Mississippi=20 Valley in British Politics: A Study of the Trade, Land Speculation, and=20 Experiments in Imperialism Culminating in the American Revolution = and the=20 later Thomas Perkins Abernathy, Western Lands and the American=20 Revolution. A pro-British view is provided by Jack M. Sosin, = Whitehall=20 and the Wilderness: The Middle West in British Colonial Policy, = 1760=E2=80=931775.=20 The important activities of the swindler, land speculator, and Indian = trader=20 George Croghan are covered in the definitive account by Nicholas B. = Wainwright,=20 George Croghan: Wilderness Diplomat. A lively and vivid account = of=20 Indian relations on the frontier appears in Dale Van Every, Forth to = the=20 Wilderness: the First American Frontier, 1754=E2=80=931774.

As noted above, an excellent study of American resistance to the = Stamp Act is=20 Edmund and Helen Morgan, The Stamp Act Crisis, with supporting=20 documents in Edmund Morgan, ed., Prologue to Revolution The = Boston=20 Massacre has now been treated fully in Hiller B. Zobel, The Boston=20 Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party in Benjamin W. Labaree, The = Boston=20 Tea Party. Labaree emphasizes the importance of the role of the = monopoly=20 East India Company, in administering the tea tax in America, in the = final=20 development of American fears of the loss of traditional liberty. The = company's=20 tax looting in Bengal had caused a disastrous famine which was widely = reported=20 in the American press. The English beneficiaries of the exploitation of = Bengal=20 returned to England with their loot and purchased seats in Parliament. A = recent=20 study of these "Nabobs" is P.J. Marshall's East India Fortunes: The = British=20 in Bengal in the Eighteenth Century.

Disgracefully, there has been very little work done on two vital=20 revolutionary organizations and institutions in the pre-Revolutionary = period:=20 the committees of correspondence, and the Sons of Liberty. The only = overall=20 study of the committees of correspondence is the old and brief work by = Edward D.=20 Collins, Committees of Correspondence of the American=20 Revolution. The role of the Boston Committee of Correspondence has = been=20 recently studied in Richard D. Brown, Revolutionary Politics in=20 Massachusetts: The Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Towns,=20 1772=E2=80=931774. There is no overall study of the Sons of = Liberty, but there are=20 some valuable sectional accounts. The best is Richard Walsh, = Charleston's=20 Sons of Liberty: A Study of the Artisans, 1763=E2=80=931789. The = New York Sons are=20 studied in Roger J. Champagne, "The Military Association of the Sons of=20 Liberty:' New York Historical Society Quarterly, 41(1957); = Champagne,=20 "Liberty Boys and Mechanics of New York City, 1764=E2=80=931774," = Labor History=20 8 (1967); and, from a Marxian perspective, Herbert M. Morais, "The Sons = of=20 Liberty in New York" in Richard B. Morris, ed., The Era of the = American=20 Revolution. A realistic and thorough history of the use of mobs in = the=20 American resistance is now available, however; in Pauline Maier, = From=20 Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of = American=20 Opposition to Britain, 1765=E2=80=931776.

"The monopoly East India Company's tax looting in = Bengal=20 had caused a disastrous famine which was widely reported in the American = press."=20

Several excellent studies deal with various aspects of mercantilist=20 restrictions and enforcement by Britain as causes of the American = resistance.=20 Oliver M. Dickerson's The Navigation Acts and the American = Revolution=20 deals with the Navigation Acts. Carl Ubbelohde treats the Admiralty = courts in=20 The Vice-Admiralty Courts and the American Revolution. And = Joseph J.=20 Malone covers the White Pines Acts in Pine Trees and Politics: The = Naval=20 Stores and Forest Policy in Colonial New England, = 1691=E2=80=931775. On=20 the same subject is Robert G. Albion, Forests and Sea Power: The = Timber=20 Problem of the Royal Navy, 1652=E2=80=931862.

While marred by its consistently Progressive interpretation, Arthur=20 M. Schlesinger, Sr., The Colonial Merchants and the = American=20 Revolution 1763=E2=80=931776 is an important, thorough, = and=20 still-definitive account of the merchants and the various movements and=20 struggles for nonimportation boycotts of England. Beverly W. Bond, Jr., = The=20 Quit Rent System in the American Colonies, stands as the only work = on the=20 feudal quitrents which provided a continuing source of irritation in the = colonies.

The Role of Ideas in the Revolution

The best works on the influence of libertarian ideology on the = budding=20 American revolutionaries are the Bailyn and other works mentioned = earlier.=20 George Rud=C3=A9 studies the radical libertarian Wilkite movement in = England in=20 Wilkes and Liberty: A Social Study of 1763 to 1774. And Pauline = Maier=20 examines the relations between the English Wilkites and the American = radical=20 libertarians in "John Wilkes and American Disillusionment with Britain," = William and Mary Quarterly, 20 (1963); as does Jack P Greene in = "Bridge=20 to Revolution: the Wilkes Fund Controversy in South Carolina, = 1769=E2=80=931775,"=20 Journal of Southern History, 29 (1963).

Thomas Hollis was an English libertarian who dedicated his life to = reprinting=20 and disseminating libertarian works throughout the world, and = particularly in=20 the American colonies, and in corresponding with like-minded people. He = has been=20 studied in Caroline Robbins, "The Strenuous Whig: Thomas Hollis of = Lincoln's=20 Inn," William and Mary Quarterly, 7 (1950). The impact of = American=20 revolutionary thought upon English radicalism has received thorough = examination=20 in Cohn Bonwick's English Radicals and the American = Revolution.

The influence of French libertarian thought can be found in Howard = Mumford=20 Jones, American and French Culture, 1750=E2=80=931848. Also see = Jones, O=20 Strange New World: American Culture, The Formative Years. The most = recent=20 study of the impact of French eighteenth century thought on American=20 revolutionary developments is Henry F. May, The Enlightenment in=20 America.

Religion played an important role in the development of revolutionary = and=20 libertarian ideas. The great radical Massachusetts minister Jonathan = Mayhew has=20 found his biographer in Charles W. Akers, Called unto Liberty: A = Life of=20 Jonathan Mayhew, 1720=E2=80=931766. The best work on the "black = regiment" of=20 Congregationalist ministers in New England is Alice M. Baldwin, The = New=20 England Clergy and the American Revolution. While scarcely = definitive,=20 Herbert M. Morals, Deism in Eighteenth Century America has = produced the=20 only work on the significant role of deism.

Part of religion's role in generating a revolutionary spirit resulted = from=20 the general American fear of England's placing Anglican bishops in the = American=20 colonies. Arthur L. Cross has produced the classic work on this subject = in=20 The Anglican Episcopate and the American Colonies. It is now = partially=20 superseded by Carl Bridenbaugh, Mitre and Sceptre: Transatlantic = Faiths,=20 ideas, Personalities, and Politics, 1689=E2=80=931775.

An admirable treatment of the role of the American press in = revolutionary=20 agitation is Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr., Prelude to Independence: = The=20 Newspaper War on Britain, 1764=E2=80=931776. It happily supersedes = the volume by=20 Philip G. Davidson, Propaganda and the American Revolution, = 1763=E2=80=931783,=20 which was fatally marred by the Progressive view that all ideology is = mere=20 "propaganda" rhetoric.

"Religion played an important role in the = development of=20 revolutionary and libertarian ideas."

Michael G. Kammen studies the vital role of American colonial agents = to=20 London in A Rope of Sand: The Colonial Agents, British Policies, and = the=20 American Revolution. See also: Jack Sosin, Agents and = Merchants:=20 British Colonial Policy and the Origins of the American Revolution,=20 1763=E2=80=931875. The letters of the most important of these = agents, and a leading=20 pro-American British Whig, are included in Ross J.S. Hoffman, ed., = Edmund=20 Burke, New York Agent, with his Letters to the New York Assembly and = Intimate=20 Correspondence with Charles O'Hara, 1761=E2=80=931776.

The best treatment of British politics in relation to the developing = American=20 resistance is Charles R. Ritcheson, British Politics and the = American=20 Revolution. Rud=C3=A9 discusses the Whig and radical opposition to = British=20 imperial designs and to Tory government at home in Wilkes and = Liberty,=20 mentioned earlier. Also see Eugene C. Black, The Association:=20 British Extraparliamentary Political Organization, = 1769=E2=80=931793; Archibald=20 S. Foord, His Majesty's Opposition, 1714=E2=80=931830; George = H. Guttridge,=20 English Whiggism and the American Revolution; Lucy S. = Sutherland,=20 The City of London and the Opposition to Government: = 1768=E2=80=931774: A Study in=20 the Rise of Metropolitan Radicalism; and Maurice R. O'Connell, = Irish=20 Politics and Social Conflict in the Age of American Revolution.

Several recent works examine the great English Whig, the Duke of = Newcastle,=20 and his policy of "salutary neglect." But none are satisfactory. The = definitive=20 political biography of his successor, the Marquis of Rockingham, is = difficult=20 reading. It assumes a detailed knowledge of English politics of the = period; it=20 is Ross J.S. Hoffman, The Marquis: A Study of Lord Rockingham,=20 1730=E2=80=931782.

The most relevant discussion of Edmund Burke's views and activities = in this=20 period is Carl B. Cone's Burke and the Nature of Politics, Vol. I. = The Age=20 of the American Revolution. Several works detail the Tory, or = "Namierite"=20 point of view on English politics in this period, the most famous being = Sir=20 Lewis Bernstein Namier, England in the Age of the American=20 Revolution.

Revolutionary Accounts of Cities and States

Boston was the heartland of the revolutionary movement, but = there is=20 no history of the Boston or even Massachusetts movement per se. Robert = E. Brown,=20 Middle-Class Democracy and the Revolution in Massachusetts, = 1691=E2=80=931780=20 is a basic work on Massachusetts in the eighteenth century. But the = author's=20 naive consensus view of colonial "democracy" badly mars the book. The = Boston=20 Massacre and Tea Party have been covered in the books cited above.

The premier leader of the revolutionary movement, Samuel Adams, has = been=20 ill-served by historians; no satisfactory biography has been published. = John C.=20 Miller's Sam Adams: Pioneer in Propaganda is hostile and = vituperative,=20 under the influence of the Progressive "propaganda" theory. Of the = numerous=20 biographies and studies of John Adams, best for this period, though not = always=20 reliable, is Catherine Drinker Bowen, John Adams and the American=20 Revolution. Though mired in detail, Page Smith's John Adams,=20 1735=E2=80=931826 handles Adams's political and economic thought = weakly.

The heroic and often neglected Dr. Joseph Warren is in John Cary, = Joseph=20 Warren: Physician, Politician, Patriot. William T. Baxter studies = the=20 Hancock family, as well as the life of Boston merchants of the period, = in=20 The House of Hancock, Business in Boston, 1724=E2=80=931774. = For non-Boston=20 merchants; see Benjamin W. Labaree, Patriots and Partisans: the = Merchants of=20 Newburyport, 1764=E2=80=931815.

"The Progressives fell back on the theory of = 'propaganda'=20 =E2=80=A6that the ideology propounded by the leaders was mere windy = rhetoric which they=20 never believed."

Robert J. Taylor has written an important work on rural = Massachusetts:=20 Western Massachusetts in the Revolution. Also see Lee N. = Newcomer's=20 The Embattled Farmers: A Massachusetts Countryside in the American=20 Revolution. A major revolutionary leader in Western Massachusetts = receives=20 a biography in E. Francis Brown, Joseph Hawley: Colonial = Radical.

The outstanding work on Connecticut in this period is Oscar Zeichner, = Connecticut's Years of Controversy, 1750=E2=80=931776. A = sensible work on Rhode=20 Island politics, placing the Ward and Hopkins camps as sectional = factions rather=20 than embodiments of a class struggle, is David S. Lovejoy, Rhode = Island=20 Politics and the American Revolution, 1760=E2=80=931776. On the = same theme, see=20 also Mack F. Thompson, "The Ward-Hopkins Controversy and the American = Revolution=20 in Rhode Island: An Interpretation," William and Mary = Quarterly, 16=20 (1959).

The classic work on New Hampshire, Richard E Upton, Revolutionary = New=20 Hampshire, has now been supplemented by Jere R. Daniel, = Experiment in=20 Republicanism: New Hampshire Politics and the American Revolution,=20 1741=E2=80=931794.

Vermont was unique in that its own guerrilla rebellion against New = York rule=20 and land grants merged easily into the Revolutionary War. Frederic Van = de Water,=20 The Reluctant Republic: Vermont, 1724=E2=80=931791 contains a = lively account of=20 the Green Mountain Boys and of the Vermont rebellion. John Pell's = Ethan=20 Allen, a biography of the Green Mountain Boys' great leader, has = now been=20 supplemented by Charles A. Jellison's Ethan Allen. = Darlene=20 Shapiro's "Ethan Allen: Philosopher-Theologian to a Generation of = American=20 Revolutionaries," William and Mary Quarterly, 21 (1964), is a=20 particularly good account of the influence of the libertarian and Deist = thought=20 of the guerrilla leader.

Despite its age and its Beardian interpretation, Carl Lotus Becker, = The=20 History of Political Parties in the Province of New York = 1760=E2=80=931776 is still=20 the best work on the political struggles in New York in the = pre-Revolutionary=20 era. Alternative interpretations can be found in Bernard Mason, The = Road to=20 Independence: The Revolutionary Movement in New York, = 1773=E2=80=931777, and in the=20 later chapters of Patricia Updegraff Bonomi, A Factious People: = Politics and=20 Society in Colonial New York. However, the neo-Beardian approach to = New=20 York politics, especially in the correct stress on the continuity of the = major=20 conflicting groups in the pre- and post-Revolutionary periods, is found = in the=20 splendid work of Alfred F. Young, The Democratic Republicans of New = York:=20 The Origins, 1763=E2=80=931797.

The tenant risings in the Hudson Valley of New York are treated in = the only=20 full-scale work on the subject: Irving Mark, Agrarian Conflicts in = Colonial=20 New York, 1711=E2=80=931775. This should be supplemented by the = accounts in the=20 early chapter of Bonomi, A Factious People, and in Chapter III = of=20 Staughton Lynd, Anti-Federalism in Dutchess County, New York: A = Study of=20 Democracy and Class Conflict in the Revolutionary Era. Dorothy = Dillon looks=20 at The New York Triumvirate: A Study of the Legal and Political = Careers of=20 William Livingston, John Morin Scott, William Smith, Jr.

No works are devoted to New Jersey for this period. Donald L. = Kemmerer offers=20 the best approach in Path to Freedom: The Struggles for = Self-Government in=20 Colonial New Jersey, 1703=E2=80=931776. Although missing the = dimension of political=20 and constitutional ideology, the political conflict in New Jersey after = 1763 is=20 detailed in Larry R. Gerlach, Prologue to Independence: New Jersey = in the=20 Coming of the American Revolution.

The best work on Pennsylvania politics in this period is Theodore = Thayer,=20 Pennsylvania Politics and the Growth of Democracy, = 1740=E2=80=931776. No book=20 fully replaces Charles H. Lincoln, The Revolutionary Movement in=20 Pennsylvania, 1760=E2=80=931776. Carl and Jessica Bridenbaugh have = written a=20 valuable social history in Rebels and Gentlemen: Philadelphia in the = Age of=20 Franklin. Frederick B. Tolles offers an excellent account of the = leading=20 Philadelphia merchants of the period in Meetinghouse and Counting = House: The=20 Quaker Merchants of Colonial Philadelphia.

Most of the rebel leaders of Pennsylvania remain unknown and = untreated by=20 historians. An early liberal leader, John Dickinson, now has a good = biography,=20 in David L. Jacobson, John Dickinson and the Revolution in = Pennsylvania,=20 1764=E2=80=931776. The only radical leader to be the subject of a = biography is an=20 old one by Burton A. Konkle, George Bryan and the Constitution of=20 Pennsylvania, 1731=E2=80=931791. There is a good article on the = vitally important=20 Charles Thomson, John J. Zimmerman, "Charles Thomson, The Sam Adams of=20 Philadelphia"; Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 45 = (1958).

"Of the innumerable works on the opportunistic = Tory=20 Benjamin Franklin, most are adulatory and uncritical."

Of the innumerable works on the opportunistic Tory Benjamin Franklin, = most=20 are adulatory and uncritical. This includes the standard account by Carl = Van=20 Doren, Benjamin Franklin. There is some good material, = nevertheless, in=20 Verner W. Crane, Benjamin Franjlin and a Rising People. Most = objective=20 and illuminating on Franklin's machinations in colonial politics, is = William S.=20 Hanna, Benjamin Franklin and Pennsylvania Politics.

There is nothing good on Delaware in this period. Here we must still = fall=20 back on the old and unsatisfactory John T. Scharf et al., History of = Delaware, 1609=E2=80=931888.

For an overall account of the South in this period, John R. Alden, = The=20 South in the Revolution, 1763=E2=80=931789 is excellent. Charles A. = Barker covers=20 Maryland's unique political and social structure in The Background = of the=20 Revolution in Maryland. This should be supplemented with James Haw, = "Maryland Politics on the Eve of Revolution: The Provincial Controversy, = 1770=E2=80=931773," Maryland Historical Magazine, 65 = (1970).

The best and most thorough history of colonial Virginia is Richard L. = Morton,=20 Colonial Virginia; and the latter chapters of Volume II deal = with the=20 Parsons' Cause and other Virginia grievances down to 1763. No one has = made a=20 specific study of Virginia in the pre-Revolutionary period. But Charles = S.=20 Syndors' Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's=20 Virginia, is an excellent study of Virginia's political and social=20 structure in the colonial period. Robert E. and B. Katherine Brown's=20 Virginia, 1705=E2=80=931786: Democracy or Aristocracy? = is an absurd=20 attempt to apply the Browns' "democratic" model, designed for = Massachusetts, to=20 a colony where it can scarcely be relevant. Two important revisionist = articles=20 demolish the myth that Virginia's planters were exploited by being = indebted to=20 British merchants. They find this grievance was not of critical = importance in=20 the Virginia revolutionary movement. See James H. Soltow, "Scottish = Traders in=20 Virginia, 1750=E2=80=931775," Economic History Review, 21 = (1959); and Emory G.=20 Evans, "Planter Indebtedness and the Coming of the Revolution in = Virginia,"=20 William and Mary Quarterly, 19 (1962).

On Patrick Henry see Robert D. Meade's Patrick Henry, Vol. = 1. Though=20 old, Moses Coit Tyler's Patrick Henry contains long excerpts = from=20 Henry's famous speeches. On that other great radical leader, Richard = Henry Lee,=20 see Oliver P Chitwood's Richard Henry Lee, Statesman of=20 theRevolution.

As in the case of Franklin, the historiography of the conservative = rebel=20 leader George Washington suffers from uncritical adulation. Among these, = the=20 definitive biography is Douglas Southall Freeman's George = Washington: A=20 Biography. While a disorganized collection of essays, Bernhard=20 Knollenberg's George Washington: The Virginia Period,=20 1732=E2=80=931775 contains valuable revisionist insights.

The literature on North Carolina is sparse, old and unsatisfactory. = Robert=20 D.W Connor, History of North Carolina, Vol. I deals with the = entire=20 colonial and revolutionary period. Hugh T. Lefler and Albert R. Newsome, = North Carolina, is a rehash.

For South Carolina the venerable general history is Edward McCrady's = The=20 History of South Carolina Under the Royal Government, = 1719=E2=80=931776. The=20 standard modern work is David D. Wallace, History of South Carolina, = Vol.I. Richard Maxwell Brown has written an excellent history of = the South=20 Carolina Regulators in The South Carolina Regulators. The = advance to=20 revolution in South Carolina has now been covered in Robert M. Weir, = "Most=20 Important Epocha": The Coming of the Revolution in South = Carolina.

"The historiography of the conservative rebel = leader George=20 Washington suffers from uncritical adulation."

The only thorough history of the Sons of Liberty in any area is = Richard=20 Walsh, Charleston's Sons of Liberty: A Study of the = Artisans,=20 1763=E2=80=931789. Unfortunately no biographer has chronicled the = great radical=20 rebel leader, Christopher Gadsden. But Richard Walsh has collected his = writings:=20 Christopher Gadsden, Writings, 1746=E2=80=931805.

On the coming of the Revolution in Georgia, see Kenneth Coleman, = The=20 American Revolution in Georgia, 1763=E2=80=931789. On the = royal government=20 of Georgia in this period, William W. Abbot's The Royal Governors of = Georgia, 1754=E2=80=931775, is particularly valuable.

III. 1775 and After

Revolutionary Warfare

A concise, judicious, overall summary of the military, political, = social, and=20 economic history of the American Revolution is fortunately available in = John it.=20 Alden, The American Revolution, 1775=E2=80=931783.

The most important and dramatic change in interpreting the history of = the=20 American Revolutionary War has come about very recently: the realization = that=20 the Americans won because, and insofar as, they were conducting a = massive=20 guerrilla war. They fought a "people's war" against the superior = firepower and=20 orthodox military strategy and tactics of the British imperial power. = With=20 modern guerrilla war coming into focus since the late 1960s, recent = historians=20 have begun to apply its lessons to the American Revolution, not only to = the=20 tactics of individual battles but also in basic strategic insights. For = example,=20 they realize that guerrilla war can only succeed if the great majority = of the=20 populace back the guerrillas. This was the condition during the American = Revolution. The valuable military histories of the Revolution, = therefore, can be=20 grouped into two categories: those which antedated and those which have=20 incorporated modern insights into the nature and potential of guerrilla=20 warfare.

Thus, the best detailed history of the military conflict, devoting = keen=20 analysis to each battle, is Christopher Ward's The War of the=20 Revolution. Willard M. Wallace has prepared a useful and relatively = brief=20 one-volume military history: Appeal to Arms: A Military History of = the=20 American Revolution. More specifically for the standard military = history of=20 the first year of the war, see Allen French, The First Year = of the=20 American Revolution. And Arthur B. Tourtellot describes the initial = battle=20 of Lexington and Concord in William Diamond's Drum.

None of these books, however, was written recently enough to = incorporate=20 modern insights on the importance of guerrilla as opposed to = conventional war.=20 But an important one-volume military history does so: Don Higginbotham, = The=20 War of American Independence: Military Attitudes, Policies, and = Practices,=20 1763=E2=80=931789. Two books edited by George Athan Billias are = particularly=20 important, both for guerrilla insights and for penetrating "revisionist" = studies=20 of particular generals and their strategies and tactics: George = Washington's=20 Generals and George Washington's Opponents: British Generals = and=20 Admirals in the American Revolution.

Particularly important in the former volume is George A. Billias, = "Horatio=20 Gates: Professional Soldier," about a general who used guerrilla = strategy and=20 tactics against Burgoyne, culminating at Saratoga. In the same volume, = Don=20 Higgenbotham's "Daniel Morgan: Guerrilla Fighter" apologizes for the = fact that=20 his valuable biography of the war's greatest guerrilla tactician had = been=20 written before the advent of his own and general interest in guerrilla = warfare=20 (Higgenbotham, Daniel Morgan: Revolutionary Rifleman.) = Particularly see John W. Shy, "Charles Lee: the Soldier as Radical," in = which=20 Shy looks with favor at the outstanding military libertarian and = guerrilla=20 theorist, as well as strategist and general, of the American Revolution. = Lee,=20 who had been drummed out of his number two post of command and = court-martialled=20 unfairly by George Washington, is favorably reassessed in a biography by = John R.=20 Alden, Charles Lee: Traitor or Patriot?

"Guerrilla war can only succeed if the great = majority of=20 the populace back the guerrillas. This was the condition during the = American=20 Revolution."

Professor Shy, who of all historians has the best grasp on the = importance of=20 guerilla warfare in this period, brilliantly interprets the various = phases of=20 British strategy during the war (from police action to conventional war = to=20 counter-guerilla attempts at "pacification" in the South) in his "The = American=20 Revolution: The Military Conflict Considered as A Revolutionary War," in = Kurtz=20 and Hutson, Essays on the American Revolution. John Shy, A = People=20 Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American=20 Independence is a collection of Shy's essays on military history, = some of=20 which contribute to a positive reevaluation of the importance of the = militia in=20 defensive warfare. R. Arthur Bowler, Logistics and the Failure Of = the=20 British Army in America, 1775=E2=80=931783 shows that the hostility = of the local=20 populations contributed to the failure of food supplies. This hostility = was=20 compounded by British attempts to seize the food they could not = purchase.

For the political direction of the war, see Gerald S. Brown, = American=20 Secretary: Colonial Policy of Lord George Germain. An important = volume on=20 militia and guerrilla warfare as against the orthodox deployment of the=20 Continental army in a local area is Adrian C. Leiby, The = Revolutionary War=20 in the Hackensack Valley: The Jersey Dutch and the Neutral = Ground,=20 1775=E2=80=931783.

On the fierce guerrilla vs. counter-guerrilla conflicts in South = Carolina=20 during the last phase of the war, see Russell F. Weigley, The = Partisan War:=20 The South Carolina Campaign of 1780=E2=80=931782.

The essay by Ira D. Gruber, "Richard Lord Howe: Admiral as = Peacemaker," in=20 Billias, George Washington's Opponents indicates clearly that = one of=20 the major reasons for the British failure to crush Washington's army in = the=20 first two years of the war was the Howe brothers' treasonous opposition = (as=20 dedicated Whigs) to the British war effort against the Americans. On the = British=20 view of the war, see Piers Mackesy, The War for America, = 1775=E2=80=931783; and=20 William B. Willcox, Portrait of a General: Sir Henry Clinton in the = War of=20 Independence on the best British general, who suffered from an = inability to=20 work well with his colleagues.

The most recent general history of the American Revolution, Page = Smith, A=20 New Age Begins: A People's History of the American Revolution = incorporates=20 many detailed insights about guerilla warfare from primary sources.

Political History of the Revolution

On the political history of the American Revolution, Edmund C. = Burnett,=20 The Continental Congress remains a thorough and definitive = history of=20 that national political institution. Merrill Jensen, The Articles of = Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social Constitutional History of = the=20 American Revolution, 1774=E2=80=931781 is an excellent study of the = struggles=20 around the Articles and the attempt to carry Nationalism even further. = Despite=20 its age, Allan Nevins, The American States During and After the = Revolution,=20 1775=E2=80=931789 remains by far the best, indeed the only = satisfactory,=20 state-by-state political history of the revolutionary period. In an = unfortunate=20 attempt to replace Nevins, Jackson Turner Main, The Sovereign = States,=20 1775=E2=80=931783 is sketchy and overly schematic, while Main's = Political=20 Parties Before the Constitution is a tangled statistical web based = on a=20 fallacious and unenlightening division between alleged "localists" and=20 "cosmopolitans."

Carl Lotus Becker's The Declaration of Independence: A Study in = the=20 History of Political Ideas is a well-written and valuable study of = the=20 Declaration. Curtis P. Nettels, George Washington and American=20 Independence demonstrates Washington's early devotion to = independence. Eric=20 Foner's Tom Paine and Revolutionary America is an excellent and = sympathetic study of the great sparkplug of independence as a = libertarian and=20 laissez-faire radical. None of the full-scale biographies of Paine do = him=20 justice. Best is David Freeman Hawke's Paine.

"Tom Paine was the great sparkplug of = independence =E2=80=94 a=20 libertarian and laissez-faire radical. None of the full-scale = biographies of=20 Paine do him justice."

For a valuable Beardian study of state politics during the Revolution = see=20 Elisha P. Douglass, Rebels and Democrats: The Struggle for Equal = Political=20 Rights and Majority Rule During the American Revolution. A thorough = documentary history of the struggle over a Massachusetts state = constitution=20 during the war is presented in Robert J. Taylor, ed., Massachusetts, = Colony=20 to Commonwealth: Documents on the Formation of its Constitution, = 1775=E2=80=931789.=20 The older view that confiscated Tory land in New York did not devolve = upon the=20 tenants of the feudal landlords is set forth in Harry B. Yoshpe's = The=20 Disposition of Loyalist Estates in the Southern District of the = State of=20 New York. Staughton Lynd refutes this view in = Anti-Federalism in=20 Dutchess County as does Beatrice G. Reubens, "Pre-Emptive Rights in = the=20 Disposition of a Confiscated Estate: Philipsburgh Manor, New York," = William=20 and Mary Quarterly, 22 (1965).

Pennsylvania, the most radically libertarian state during the war, is = examined in Robert L. Brunhouse, The Counter-Revolution in = Pennsylvania,=20 1776=E2=80=931790. John P. Selsam deals with its radical = constitution specifically=20 in The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776. A valuable general = work on=20 Western Pennsylvania politics in the revolutionary and = post-revolutionary=20 periods is Russell Ferguson, Early Western Pennsylvania = Politics.=20 Maryland is studied in Philip A. Crowl, Maryland During and After = the=20 Revolution.

The Revolutionary Leaders

In addition to the biographies of American revolutionary leaders = mentioned=20 above, one of the numerous Jefferson biographies stands out: the = magisterial=20 study by Dumas Malone, Jefferson and His Time, of which see = here Volume=20 I: Jefferson the Virginian. There is no wholly satisfactory = biography=20 of the great George Mason, whose Virginia Declaration of Rights inspired = both=20 the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. But Robert A. = Rutland,=20 George Mason: Reluctant Statesman provides a brief but useful = account.=20 Also see Robert A. Rutland, ed., George Mason, Papers, = 1725=E2=80=931792 and=20 Helen Hill Miller, George Mason: Gentleman Revolutionary. The = radical=20 Pennsylvania leader, the astronomer David Rittenhouse, is studied in = Brooke=20 Hindle's David Rittenhouse. And two leading New York = conservative=20 rebels receive biographies in Frank Monaghan's John Jay, and = George=20 Dangerfield's excellent Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, = 1746=E2=80=931831. For a biography of General Nathanael Greene, see = Theodore=20 Thayer's Nathanael Greene, Strategist of the American = Revolution. A=20 moderate Pennsylvania leader receives an important biography in Kenneth = K.=20 Roseman, Thomas Mifflin and the Politics of the American=20 Revolution. New York's great wartime governor is studied in Ernest = W.=20 Spaulding, His Excellency George Clinton (1739=E2=80=931812): Critic = of the=20 Constitution.

Economic and Social Aspects

On the economic and financial history of the war, E. James Ferguson, = The=20 Power of the Purse: A History of American Public Finance, = 1776=E2=80=931790 is a=20 superb account of the machinations of Robert Morris and the Nationalists = during=20 and after the war, including the expropriation of public funds for = private=20 purposes by Morris and his associates, and the drive for a strong = central=20 government to consolidate and extend those and similar privileges. This = should=20 be supplemented by Ferguson's study of the first Nationalist drive, = which,=20 though failing, prefigured the later push for the Constitution: E. James = Ferguson, "The Nationalists of 1781=E2=80=931783 and the Economic = Interpretation of the=20 Constitution;" Journal of American History, 56 (1969). For a = useful=20 biography of Morris see Clarence L. Ver Steeg's Robert Morris; = Revolutionary=20 Financier: With an Analysis of His Earlier Career. There is no = overall=20 study of inflation during the war, but Anne Bezanson, "Inflation and = Controls,=20 Pennsylvania, 1774=E2=80=931779," Journal of Economic History = Supplement,=20 8 (1948) is a careful statistical study.

"There is no wholly satisfactory biography of the = great=20 George Mason, whose Virginia Declaration of Rights inspired both the = Declaration=20 of Independence and the Bill of Rights."

Special groups in relation to the American Revolution are treated in = Charles=20 H. Metzger, Catholics and the American Revolution: A Study in = Religious=20 Climate and in the excellent work by Benjamin Quarles, The = Negro in the=20 American Revolution. Jesse Lemisch's rather quixotic program for = writing=20 history "from the bottom up" works in a particular case where data are=20 fortunately available. See his article, "Jack Tar in the Streets: = Merchant=20 Seamen in the Politics of Revolutionary America," William and Mary=20 Quarterly, 25 (1968). Scholars have shown increased interest in = recent=20 years in the fate of Tories during the Revolution. Among the best works = are=20 William H. Nelson, The American Tory and Paul H. Smith, = Loyalists=20 and Redcoats: A Study in British Revolutionary Policy. Also see = Mary Beth=20 Norton, The British-Americans: The Loyalist Exiles in England=20 1774=E2=80=931789; Carol Berkin, Jonathan Sewall: Odyssey of An = American=20 Loyalist; and Robert M. Calhoun, The Loyalists in Revolutionary = America, 1760=E2=80=931781.

Foreign Policy

The classic work on the foreign policy of the American = revolutionaries is=20 Samuel Flagg Bemis's The Diplomacy of the American Revolution. = A far=20 more revisionist work, treating the origins of the American Empire and = focusing=20 on internal and external policies of European states rather than on = strictly=20 diplomatic history, is Richard W. Van Alstyne's Empire and = Independence; The=20 International History of the American Revolution. The detailed work = on the=20 negotiations of the Peace of Paris is Richard B. Morris's The = Peacemakers:=20 The Great Powers and American Independence, But Cecil B. Currey, = Code=20 Number 72/ Ben Franklin: Patriot or Spy? provides a fascinating = corrective.=20 Currey not only demonstrates Franklin's participation in Robert Morris's = peculations during his ministry in Paris; he also offers newly = discovered=20 evidence of Franklin's probable role as a double agent on behalf of = Great=20 Britain. Currey describes Franklin's shift to a pro-French role during = the peace=20 negotiations, as well as the well-founded distrust of Franklin by Arthur = Lee,=20 John Adams, and John Jay.

Meaning and Consequences of the Revolution

There is no space here to deal with the numerous works on the nature = and=20 consequences of the American Revolution, or on the vitally important = topic of=20 the relationship between the Revolution and the Constitution. Here we = will=20 mention Gordon S. Wood's careful and important study of the way in which = libertarian ideology was conservatized during and especially after the=20 Revolution: The Creation of the American Republic, = 1776=E2=80=931787. Richard=20 B. Morris has many judicious insights in his The American Revolution = Reconsidered. He treats the American Revolution more fully as the = first war=20 of national liberation and independence from European colonialism in his = The=20 Emerging Nations and the American Revolution. Also see = Richard L.=20 Park and Richard D. Lambert, eds., The American Revolution = Abroad.

Perhaps the most important controversy was on how radical and how=20 revolutionary were the nature and consequences of the American = Revolution. We=20 have seen Robert R. Palmer's challenge to the consensus view in his = monumental=20 The Age of the Democratic Revolution. J. Franklin Jameson = produced the=20 classic Beardian view on the social radicalism of the American = Revolution in=20 The American Revolution Considered as a Social Movement. This = thesis=20 was attacked and seemingly refuted during the Consensus period of = American=20 historiography, particularly by Frederick B. Tolles, "The American = Revolution=20 Considered as a Social Movement: A Reevaluation," American = Historical=20 Review, 55 (1954=E2=80=931955); and by Clarence Ver Steeg, "The = American Revolution=20 Considered as an Economic Movement," Huntington Library = Quarterly, 20 (=20 1957).

But Robert A. Nisbet, in a brilliant article, has now rehabilitated = the=20 thesis of the American Revolution as having radical consequences, not in = a=20 Beardian, but in a libertarian direction. In his The Social Impact = of the=20 Revolution, Nisbet shows that the Revolution had a radical = libertarian=20 impact on American society: in abolishing feudal land tenure, in = establishing=20 religious freedom, and in beginning the process of the abolition of = slavery.=20 Thus, to Bailyn's insight on the libertarian sources of the Revolution, = Nisbet=20 adds his conclusion on its libertarian consequences.

Murray N. Rothbard = (1926=E2=80=931995)=20 was dean of the Austrian School. See his archive. = Comment on=20 the blog.

This article was originally published in Literature of = Liberty,=20 January-March 1978, pp. 16-41. Published quarterly from 1978 to 1982, = The=20 Literature of Liberty, was an interdisciplinary periodical intended = to be a=20 resource to the scholarly community. Each issue contained a = bibliographical=20 essay and summaries of articles that clarified liberty in the fields of=20 philosophy, political science, law, economics, history, psychology, = sociology,=20 anthropology, education, and the humanities. The summaries were based on = articles drawn from approximately four hundred journals published in the = United=20 States and abroad. Back issues=20 are available online.

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Jacobson, David L. John Dickinson and the Revolution in = Pennsylvania,=20 1764=E2=80=931776. Berkeley: University of California Press, = 1965.

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Valid = Casuistry:=20 Deriving Ought from Ought 8/7/2009 6:03:21 PM by Lilb= urne=20
How do = natural=20 rights theories cross the is/ought divide? 8/1/2009 8:20:29 PM = by Lilb= urne=20
Where do = people=20 get the idea that it is honorable to fight in a war? 7/20/2009 = 1:11:49=20 PM by Silen= tXtarian=20
Healthcare: = what's=20 wrong with it? 8/8/2009 2:03:28 AM by yoshi= mura=20
Ed = Herman and Noam=20 Chomsky's Propaganda Model 8/8/2009 3:02:21 PM by VanD= oodah=20
Ideological=20 "evolution" among libertarians 8/7/2009 3:19:17 PM by ivanf= oofoo=20
Propaganda for = the=20 State 8/8/2009 1:38:07 PM by Laugh= ing=20 Man
Which = behemoth=20 book should I start with? Human Action or Man, Economy and State?=20 8/7/2009 10:31:56 PM by McDuf= fie=20
Leninists?=20 8/4/2009 3:30:39 PM by E. = R.=20 Olovetto
Mises is = Spreading 8/8/2009 11:13:04 AM by Scott= =20 Jefferies
Fallacy = of the=20 Money Multiplier & The Three Multiplier Revelations of = Economics=20 8/8/2009 9:19:04 AM by MrLi= berty=20
Question = on Human=20 Action, Chapter XX, Page 557. 8/8/2009 12:33:28 PM by Peter= Van=20 Wieren
Fractional = Reserve=20 Banking 7/28/2009 7:54:59 PM by adam = knott
Property = rights=20 are an initiation of force? 8/7/2009 10:43:14 AM by Fried= =20 Egg
Antitrust: I need = a good retort to a stupid, stupid comment... 8/7/2009 11:42:22 = AM by=20 McDuf= fie=20
osman = kadri koca=20 'economist' 8/8/2009 6:00:41 AM by osma= nkadrikoca=20
Is it = even=20 possible for savings in China to cause a bubble here 7/24/2009 = 9:45:31=20 AM by inqu= isitiveteenager=20
Actual = Logical=20 Proof of Natural Law 8/5/2009 6:56:04 AM by Aman= ojack=20
Can You = Define=20 Natural Rights as a Meaningful Concept? 8/7/2009 4:06:58 PM by = Aman= ojack=20
Does = anyone else=20 find this incredibly annoying... 8/5/2009 9:29:39 AM by libe= rtyman=20

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Literature

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Feser = on=20 Rothbard as a Philosopher by Gerard N. Casey
= Reply=20 to Matt Mortellaro on "Block=E2=80=99s Paradox": Causation, = Responsibility,=20 Libertarian Law, Entrapment, Threats and Blackmail by Walter=20 Block
Gold, = the Golden=20 Rule, and Government: Civil Society and the End of the State = by D. G.=20 White
History of = American=20 Socialisms by John Humphrey Noyes
The Freeman 1999 = by=20 Foundation for Economic Education
The Freeman 1997 = by=20 Foundation for Economic Education
The Freeman 1996 = by=20 Foundation for Economic Education
Pro= perty,=20 Freedom, and Society: Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe by = J=C3=B6rg=20 Guido H=C3=BClsmann
The Freeman 1995 = by=20 Foundation for Economic Education
The Freeman 1986 = by=20 Foundation for Economic Education
The Freeman 1985 = by=20 Foundation for Economic Education
The Libertarian = Review December=20 1980 by Libertarian Review

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Dealing with Economic Depression (Mises Circle sponsored by Mark = L. Hart=20 III)
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The Greatest Depression? (Mises Circle, sponsored by James M.=20 Wolfe)
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Depression, Monetary Destruction, and the Path to Sound Money = (Mises=20 Circle sponsored by Atlantic Bullion and Coin, and Professional = Planning of=20 Easley LLC)
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The Birthplace of Economic Theory: A Trip to Salamanca,=20 Spain

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Ludwig von Mises Institute

Modern Historians Confront the American Revolution

I. Basic Causes of the Revolution

Constitutional Conflict Historians

The Progressive Historians and the Economic = Dimension

The Consensus Interpretation

Bailyn's Crucial Breakthrough

II. The Pre-Revolutionary Period

Political and Economic Conflicts

The Role of Ideas in the Revolution

Revolutionary Accounts of Cities and States

III. 1775 and After

Revolutionary Warfare

Political History of the Revolution

The Revolutionary Leaders

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Meaning and Consequences of the Revolution

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San Francisco, California, = Intercontinental Hotel August 29, 2009

Dealing with Economic Depression (Mises Circle sponsored by Mark = L. Hart=20 III)

Seattle, Washington=20 September 12, 2009

The Greatest Depression? (Mises Circle, sponsored by James M.=20 Wolfe)

Greenville, South = Carolina=20 October 3, 2009

Depression, Monetary Destruction, and the Path to Sound Money = (Mises=20 Circle sponsored by Atlantic Bullion and Coin, and Professional = Planning of=20 Easley LLC)

Salamanca, Spain = October=20 21-24, 2009

The Birthplace of Economic Theory: A Trip to Salamanca,=20 Spain

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