Month: August 2024

2
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

The Westmoreland Rangers and “The Suffering Fruntears”

Warfare during the American Revolution could be brutal; this brutality took on entirely new dimensions in the frontier, and could be devastating, unrelenting, and all-pervading. Threats came in many forms—isolation, starvation, exposure; labor took countless forms as well, demanding never-ending toil and dogged perseverance. Like many whose charge was to defend America’s back door, the […]

by Robert Guy
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Shawn David McGhee on the Transformation of Royal Subjects to Republican Citizens

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Shawn David McGhee on his new book that describes how American colonists shifted from loyalty to the king to embracing independence in the year leading up to armed rebellion. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States […]

by Editors
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Eric Sterner on George Rogers Clark and the Illinois Campaign

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and JAR contributor Eric Sterner on his new book about George Rogers Clark and the Illinois Campaign of 1778–1779. 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 […]

by Editors
3
Battles Posted on

Ramsour’s Mill, June 20, 1780: The End of Cornwallis’ Loyalist Illusion

Following the surrender of the major coastal capital of Charlestown, South Carolina (present-day Charleston) to the joint army-navy expeditionary force led by Maj. Gen. Sir Henry Clinton and Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot in May 1780, British land forces began to fan out across the Carolina interior to reestablish Royal control. When Clinton returned to New […]

by Scott Syfert
Reviews Posted on

No Longer Subjects of the British King

BOOK REVIEW: No Longer Subjects of the British King: The Political Transformation of Royal Subjects to Republican Citizens, 1774-1776 by Shawn David McGhee (Yardley, PA: Journal of the American Revolution Books/Westholme Publishing, 2024. $34.95 cloth.) As Continental Congresses go, the Second Continental Congress, which adopted the Declaration of Independence, is clearly the star, but Shawn […]

by Jeff Broadwater
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches Christopher Pieczynski on Cape Henry during the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews associate professor of history and JAR contributor Christopher Pieczynski on the strategic importance of Cape Henry and access to Chesapeake Bay during the American Revolution. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and […]

by Editors
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

“To Render Ourselves Impregnable”: The Defenses of Annapolis during the American Revolution

The city of Annapolis has never been attacked in its long history, but it has nonetheless played an important role in American conflicts, with the American Revolution being no exception. While the British never attempted to capture the city, extensive fortifications were built around Annapolis to hold off a possible British attack. What were the […]

by Raphael Corletta
1
Frontier Posted on

Till the Extinction of This Rebellion: George Rogers Clark, Frontier Warfare, an the Illinois Campaign of 1778-1779

BOOK REVIEW: Till the Extinction of This Rebellion: George Rogers Clark, Frontier Warfare, and the Illinois Campaign of 1778–1779 by Eric Sterner (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2024. $29.95, cloth) In Till the Extinction of This Rebellion: George Rogers Clark, Frontier Warfare, and the Illinois Campaign of 1778–1779, Eric Sterner presents a focused overview of one […]

by Brady J. Crytzer
2
Prewar Politics (<1775) Posted on

Thomas Hutchinson, Patrick Henry, and the Stamp Act

When the stamp act crisis arose, a number of American colonial legislatures opposed the measure and sent remonstrances to Parliament objecting to it. Two of those colonies were Virginia and Massachusetts. The methods utilized by each were different and had differing results. The difference may be attributed to what may be called “Patrick Henry’s Hoax”. […]

by James M. Smith
Critical Thinking Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Liam Connor on Boudica and the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Liam Connor on the use of Roman and other ancient persons, including the Iceni leader Boudica, in contemporary discussions about the American Revolution. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and […]

by Editors
2
Critical Thinking Posted on

Hamilton, the Humanist: Philosophical Collision in Federalist No. 6

In December 2023, intellectual history lost one of its greatest innovators: J. G. A. Pocock. Professor Pocock, who dedicated his life to reconstructing the relationship between written text and historical context, leaves behind a body of work that has dramatically altered our understanding of Atlantic political thought. Underpinning much of his scholarship is a strong […]

by Vincent Calvagno
4
Reviews Posted on

Heart of American Darkness

BOOK REVIEW: Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier by Robert G. Parkinson (New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2024. $35.00, hardcover) Robert G. Parkinson, a history professor, chronicles the pre- to post-American Revolutionary War events in the Ohio Valley through the experiences of two families—the Native Shickellamys and […]

by Gene Procknow
10
Law Posted on

Constitutions and the Rule of Law: Ten Voices from America’s Founding Period

The idea that no one is above the law is a long-held and repeated precept of American constitutionalism. Its roots go back to the philosophical and historical foundations of western political thought. Holding a prominent place in this history is the thirteenth-century English Magna Carta. Although it does not explicitly use the phrase, the document—a […]

by Jett Conner