Synopses & Reviews
Although American independence was no miracle, the timing of the country’s independence and its huge scope, both political and territorial, do seem miraculous. In The Miracle of American Independence Jonathan R. Dull reconstructs significant events before, during, and after the Revolutionary War that had dramatic consequences for the future as the colonies sought independence from Great Britain. Without these surprising and unexpected results, Dull maintains, the country would have turned out quite differently. The Miracle of American Independence reimagines how the British might have averted or overcome American independence, and how the fledgling country itself could have lost its independence. Drawing on his nearly fifty years of research and a lively imagination, Dull puts readers in a position to consider the American Revolution from the perspective of the European states and their monarchs. This alternative history provides a stimulating reintroduction to one of the most exciting periods in American and European history, proving that sometimes reality is even stranger and more miraculous than fiction.
Review
and#8220;No better brief chronological introduction to the period can be found than Edmund S. Morganand#8217;s
The Birth of the Republic: 1763and#8211;89.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;The author concisely and clearly covers the major topics, and he offers a well-organized and attractively written survey. . . .
The Birth of the Republic is particularly to be praised because of the sensible and judicious views offered by Morgan. He is unfair neither to Britain nor to the colonies.and#8221;
Review
andldquo;Apart from its uplifting argument, part of the appeal of
The Birth of the Republic is its prose style, which is blissfully bereft of academic jargon, sophisticated but simple in a way that scholarly specialists find impressive and ordinary readers find comprehensible. Morgan makes the story he is telling take precedence over the note cards he has assembled. He regards narrative as the highest form of analysis, and he has a natural gift for telling a story, silently digesting mountains of historical evidence to produce the distilled essence of the issue at stake.andrdquo;
Review
“A fabulous book by one of the leading scholars of the period. This book will make you think in an entirely new way about the path to American independence and will make you realize just how many different paths the war could have taken.”—Sam Willis, author of In the Hour of Victory: The Royal Navy at War in the Age of Nelson
Review
“A fascinating examination of possibilities in the American Revolution that might have served to deny independence. Jonathan Dull knows the scholarly studies of the American Revolution, and he has mastered many of the sources that bear on the period. His book takes up hypothetical questions framed on ‘what if’ circumstances. It is careful and balanced despite its unorthodox method. Any reader interested in the Revolution will find it engaging and valuable.”—Robert Middlekauff, Preston Hotchkis Professor of American History, Emeritus, at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Washington’s Revolution
Synopsis
In The Birth of the Republic, 1763andndash;89, Edmund S. Morgan shows how the challenge of British taxation started Americans on a search for constitutional principles to protect their freedom, and eventually led to the Revolution. By demonstrating that the founding fathersandrsquo; political philosophy was not grounded in theory, but rather grew out of their own immediate needs, Morgan paints a vivid portrait of how the foundersandrsquo; own experiences shaped their passionate convictions, and these in turn were incorporated into the Constitution and other governmental documents.and#160;The Birth of the Republic is the classic account of the beginnings of the American government, and in this fourth edition the original text is supplemented with a new foreword by Joseph J. Ellis and a historiographic essay by Rosemarie Zagarri.
About the Author
and#160;Edmund S. Morgan is Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and past president of the Organization of American Historians. William T. Hagan (1918andndash;2011) was professor emeritus of history at the University of Oklahoma and the author of The Sac and Fox Indians, Indian Police and Judges, United States-Comanche Relations, and The Indian Rights Association. John Hope Franklin (1915andndash;2009) was the James B. Duke Professor of History Emeritus at Duke University. He is the author of many books, including Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin and Racial Inequality in America.
and#160;
Table of Contents
Foreword to the Fourth Edition by Joseph J. EllisPreface to the Third EditionPreface to the Second EditionLexington Green
1. The Americans and the Empire
2. Sugar and Stamps, 1764and#8211;66
3. Peace without Honor, 1766and#8211;68
4. Troops and Tea, 1768and#8211;74
5. Equal Rights, 1774and#8211;76
6. War and Peace, 1776and#8211;83
7. The Independent States
8. The Independent Nation, 1776and#8211;81
9. and#8220;The Critical Periodand#8221;
10. The Constitutional Convention
11. Ratification
Appendix: Basic Documents of the American Revolution
The Declaration of Independence
The Articles of Confederation
The Constitution of the United States
The Bill of RightsBibliographical NoteScholarship on the American Revolution since The Birth of the Republic, 1763and#8211;89 by Rosemarie Zagarri
Important DatesIndex