Year: 2022

4
Constitutional Debate Posted on

Insurrection and Speculation: A Farmer, Financier, and a Surprising “Sharper” Seeded the Constitution

The January 6, 2021 assault on the Capital rocked America, but it was by no means the largest, or even the most threatening, armed rebellion in the post-Revolutionary War era. In 1786 and 1787, Daniel Shays, a middle-class farmer and decorated Continental Army captain, was one of several leaders of as many as four thousand […]

by Scott M. Smith
Constitutional Debate Posted on

Partisan Politics and the Laws Which Shaped the First Congress

Every ten years the United States engages in the process of re-apportionment, wherein each state with more than one House seat redraws their Congressional districts. Simultaneously, every re-districting cycle partisans, activists, and pundits alike all bewail the harmful effects of gerrymandering on the process. Far from a modern phenomenon, partisan politics has always had a […]

by Samuel T. Lair
2
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Benjamin Franklin’s Unconventional Marriage to Deborah Read

She was neither beautiful nor wealthy. Nor was Benjamin Franklin’s wife educated or intellectual. Nevertheless in 1724 he proposed to Deborah Read while renting a room from her father, the carpenter John Read of Philadelphia. Was it simply youthful passion that attracted him or did the eighteen-year-old printer ask for Deborah’s hand because she had […]

by Nancy Rubin Stuart
Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on

Our Dear Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America

BOOK REVIEW: Our Dear Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America by Michael D. Breidenbach (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021) Most Americans in pre-revolutionary times had a strong dislike of Catholicism. They believed it to be a religion of ignorance, a religion of tyranny, and the religion of the enemy. The ever-opinionated John […]

by Gabriel Neville
Documents Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Todd W. Braisted on Point/Counterpoint between Israel Putnam and William Tryon

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and JAR contributor Todd W. Braisted on Israel Putnam and William Tryon trying to influence Hessian forces around Kingsbridge, New York, with dueling proclamations. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the […]

by Editors
2
Historic Sites Posted on

Fort Ticonderoga, The Last Campaigns

BOOK REVIEW: Fort Ticonderoga, The Last Campaigns, War in the North 1777-1783 by Mark Edward Lender (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2022) Mark Edward Lender’s recent book on Fort Ticonderoga provides a well-written and well-researched narrative that addresses the final campaigns and operations involving the fort and its surrounding environs. During the initial phases of the American Revolution, […]

by Patrick H. Hannum
Critical Thinking Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Brian Koyn on George Washington’s Emotional Intelligence and the Newburgh Conspiracy

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews US Army chaplain Brian Koyn on how modern emotional intelligence research can provide insight on how George Washington successfully handled the Newburgh Conspiracy. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. […]

by Editors
1
Critical Thinking Posted on

George III’s (Implicit) Sanction of the American Revolution

In Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774), Jefferson wrote of King George III’s unwillingness to use his “negative” to veto unjust proposals. Two years later, Jefferson echoed this sentiment in his first draft of Declaration of Independence. Here, Jefferson listed a “long train of abuses & usurpations,” at the hand of King George […]

by M. Andrew Holowchak
Newspapers Posted on

Informing a Nation: The Newspaper Presidency of Thomas Jefferson

BOOK REVIEW: Informing a Nation: The Newspaper Presidency of Thomas Jefferson by Mel Laracey (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2021) In Informing a Nation: The Newspaper Presidency of Thomas Jefferson, Mel Laracey examines Jefferson’s relationship with the National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser and the way Jefferson used the newspaper to exert influence during his presidency. Although […]

by Kelly Mielke
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Christian McBurney on How Rhode Island Prevented an Enslaved Family from Being Transported to the South

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews Rhode Island and Revolutionary War historian Christian McBurney on uncovering the extraordinary story of a man from North Carolina who traveled north in 1779 in order to obtain slaves and how his scheme was thwarted by the courts, setting a legal precedent in Rhode Island. New episodes of […]

by Editors
Features Posted on

The 2022 JAR Annual Volume

The eighth straight uniform volume of selected articles from the previous calendar year is now available. The articles in the Journal of the American Revolution Annual Volume 2022 range from the Constitutional debate over the electoral college and impeachment procedures and the numerical strength of Washington’s army during the Philadelphia campaign to inoculation of smallpox, […]

by Editors
4
Constitutional Debate Posted on

Weaponizing Impeachment: Justice Samuel Chase and President Thomas Jefferson’s Battle Over the Process

There was much discussion over the impeachment process during the Constitution’s ratifying debates. Federalists argued that the ability to impeach an individual gave disproportionate power to the House of Representatives, while Antifederalists favored more provisions to prevent tyranny from taking root. Some individuals liked the idea of having a body other than the Senate try […]

by Al Dickenson
3
Critical Thinking Posted on

Rhode Island Acts to Prevent an Enslaved Family from Being Transported to the South

The American Revolution spurred the world’s first significant movement to abolish slavery and the African slave trade.[1] Before then, there was virtually no antislavery activity in any of the thirteen colonies of North America, or for that matter, anywhere else in the world. There was some limited antislavery dialogue in England, but its abolitionist movement […]

by Christian McBurney
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: M. Andrew Holowchak on Thomas Jefferson on Rebellion, Revolution, and “Treason”

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian M. Andrew Holowchak on interpreting the distinctions Thomas Jefferson made between rebellion, revolution, and treason. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can now be easily accessed on […]

by Editors
Critical Thinking Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: James M. Deitch on the 23rd, 25th, and 27th Grievances of the Declaration of Independence

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews Marine Corps veteran and JAR contributor James M. Deitch on his analysis of the 23rd, 25th, and 27th Grievances of the Declaration of Independence. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the […]

by Editors
2
Critical Thinking Posted on

“Acts Against the Oppressions of the Government”: Jefferson on Rebellion, Revolution, and “Treason”

Jefferson’s views on rebellion and revolution, when they are addressed, are often largely misapprehended in the secondary literature. One reason for the confusion is that rebellion and revolution are sometimes judged to be equivalent, or nearly so, and thus are often uncritically lumped together, or are viewed merely as symptoms of liberalism, taken too far. […]

by M. Andrew Holowchak
1
Diplomacy Posted on

Charles Thomson and the Delaware

There are many, many founding fathers in the story of America’s Revolution and unfortunately only a few are really known to the general public. Yet without those who are less known, there would have been no revolution. One of those men was the official secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thomson. He was the sole […]

by James M. Smith
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Cornwallis: Soldier and Statesman in a Revolutionary World

BOOK REVIEW: Cornwallis: Soldier and Statesman in a Revolutionary World by Richard Middleton (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022). It says something about an historical figure’s renown when his or her biography uses only their last name as its title. Napoleon, Lincoln, and Churchill are in this historical “club,” and with them, should be included […]

by John R. Maass