Month: July 2021

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Features Posted on

Review: Winning Independence

Winning Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781 by John Ferling. (New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021) The latest work by Professor John Ferling (author of The Ascent of George Washington, A Leap In the Dark, and Whirlwind) is a scholarly explanation as to why the United States ended up winning the American Revolution, […]

by Timothy Symington
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Espionage and Cryptography Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Bill Bleyer on the Culper Spy Ring

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews writer and historian Bill Bleyer on sifting fact from fiction about the legendary Culper Spy Ring. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can now be easily accessed on the […]

by Editors
Constitutional Debate Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Haimo Li on an Important Contribution of Maryland to the US Constitution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews political scientist and JAR contributor Haimo Li on how the Maryland declaration of rights outlawed ex post facto laws—and how that state’s delegation got this important clause into the US Constitution. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, […]

by Editors
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Critical Thinking Posted on

Divine Providence and Deism in the Declaration of Independence

Clemson University Professor C. Bradley Thompson is a nationally recognized historian and Revolutionary Era scholar whose most recent book, America’s Revolutionary Mind, has earned copious praise and widespread acclaim. It is well-deserved. Nevertheless, Professor Thompson’s work is not without flaws as it renews, unnecessarily, the erroneous and ahistorical argument that God, as referenced in the […]

by David Otersen
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The Vermont Constitution of 1777

If the gunfire at Lexington and Concord was the “shot heard round the world,” the phrases in the Declaration of Independence were the words read around the world. In the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson declared America an independent nation, rooting his ideas in political theory and justifying them with a list of grievances.[1] After the Declaration was […]

by Sophie Jaeger
Constitutional Debate Posted on

The Bolingbrokean Constitutional Argument in John Adams’s 1766 Clarendon Letter

As part of the debate over the constitutionality of the Stamp Act, John Adams wrote a series of letter to the Boston Gazette discussing the nature and duties of the British government. He signed these letters “Clarendon” rather than using his own name.[1] In his January 27, 1766 “Clarendon” letter Adams penned this line: Were I to […]

by Haimo Li
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: John DeLee on Policy Toward Native Americans During the Articles of Confederation Period

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews USMA graduate and JAR contributor John DeLee on how the policy toward Indigenous Americans changed during the Articles of Confederation period. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can now […]

by Editors
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Crime and Justice Posted on

William “Bloody Bill” Cunningham and the Bloody Scout

On or about November 19, 1781, a Loyalist officer named William Cunningham and his regiment of approximately three hundred men rode toward Hayes Station, a fortified log home, or “blockhouse,” in the Little River District, surrounding western South Carolina’s Little River primarily in what is now Laurens County, South Carolina.[1] Now commanding the outpost was […]

by Andrew Waters
Features Posted on

Book Review: Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America

Running From Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight For Freedom In Revolutionary America by Karen Cook Bell (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021) A “wench” name Lucia. A mulatto woman named Margaret. A well-dressed woman named Jenny. A woman called Bett. These individuals are the subjects of the first four chapters of Karen Cook Bell’s […]

by Timothy Symington
Espionage and Cryptography Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: George Kotlik on Bartram’s Travels in Florida

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian of colonial Florida and JAR contributor George Kotlik on botanist William Bartram’s travels in East Florida during the mid-1770s. Did he use any of the information he gathered to benefit the Patriot cause? New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) […]

by Editors