Month: January 2020

1
Diplomacy Posted on

France and Spain Invade England—Almost

On February 6, 1778, France signed two treaties with the United States, one of Amity and Commerce, the other, a defensive Alliance.[1] In them, France recognized the absolute sovereignty and independence of the United States. On March 10, the Foreign Minister of France, the comte de Vergennes, sent a dispatch that included a copy of the […]

by Bob Ruppert
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Dean Caivano on American Colonists’ Growing Resistance to Tyranny

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews Dean Caivano, Lecturer of Political Science at California State University, Stanislaus, on the growing resistance to tyranny as colonists reacted to the prospects of their lives being reduced to a state of political and economic domination by Parliament and the Crown. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published […]

by Editors
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: William H. J. Manthorpe, Jr. on the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse and Historical Accuracy

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews William Manthorpe, a former naval intelligence officer, government senior executive, and professor who specializes on the naval history of Delaware, on unraveling the legend of who burned the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse during the American Revolution. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of […]

by Editors
1
Economics Posted on

Tapping America’s Wealth to Fund the Revolution: Two Good Ideas that Went Awry

“Unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place,” Gen. George Washington wrote from Valley Forge on December 23, 1777,[1] to Henry Laurens, the recently-appointed president of the Continental Congress, “the Army must inevitably be reduced to one or the other of these three things. Starve—dissolve—or disperse, in order to obtain subsistence.” A week later, […]

by Tom Shachtman
2
Economics Posted on

Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics

Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics by Nancy Bradeen Spannaus (Bloomington: iUniverse, 2019) “The purpose of this book,” Ms. Spannaus declares, “is simple: to establish once and for all that the first U.S. Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, was the founder of an American System of Economics which provided the […]

by Geoff Smock
2
Critical Thinking Posted on

The Fear of Domination: Resistance Against Tyranny

The threat of continued oppression and an encroaching condition of slavery was central to the American colonists’ call for separation from Great Britain and the corresponding shift to direct resistance. While the lack of effective political representation was crucial, importantly the colonists held other more acute concerns than the issue of representation in Parliament. Crucially, […]

by Dean Caivano
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Steven Neill on the British East India Company and the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Steven Neill on William Pitt’s 1767 proposal to tax the East India Company and strengthen trade with the American colonies and how the company influenced Parliament’s decision to set aside Pitt’s plan. Instead, Parliament decided to levy taxes on the colonies through the Townshend Acts. Thousands of […]

by Editors