Fire and Freedom: The American Revolution in New York

BOOK REVIEW: Fire and Freedom: The American Revolution in New York, edited by Thomas S. Wermuth, Devin Lander, Jennifer Lemak, Robert Chiles. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2026) $29.95 hardcover

What region of the nation do people picture when they think of the setting of the American Revolution? It is certainly no surprise that New England comes to mind, especially the city of Boston and its surrounding countryside. Many early events occurred in the Boston area: Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, Lexington & Concord, and Bunker Hill. After the British left, Boston was no longer the focal point for the rest of the war. Is it therefore “correct” to associate the Revolution with Boston so strongly? It is difficult to deny Boston’s importance, but the new book Fire and Freedom: The American Revolution in New York, edited by Thomas S. Wermuth, Devin Lander, Jennifer Lemak, and Robert Chiles, offers a completely different setting for the Revolution, making an excellent argument with a collection of essays that New York might be more appropriately considered as the center of the American Revolution.

Russell Shorto, the author of Revolution Song: The Story of America’s Founding in Six Remarkable Lives (2018), explains in his introduction that the fact that New York had been founded by the Dutch made it a unique place, almost a polar opposite to Puritan New England. New England was theocratic and intolerant, while New York was secular and pluralistic. New York was much more cosmopolitan, and New York City became the birthplace of American capitalism (Wall Street is still the financial center). “A culture of pragmatism and creativity helped New York not just to survive the turmoil of the revolution but to thrive. And that may be New York’s biggest contribution to American society.” (page ix) The following seven chapters took on several topics that were almost unique to New York:

“’The American Revolution in New York Revisited’ An Introduction,” written by editor Thomas S. Wermuth, briefly explores the prevalent views over time of the meaning of the American Revolution. The meaning changed especially during the 1950s and 1960s with the idea of “bottom up” history. Was the Revolution a “true” revolution? The answer to that question also changed over time, as Wermuth describes.

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Dillon L Streifeneder then looks at the role of the New York legislature in the first chapter, “’The Propriety of a Vigorous Government’: Revolution and the Creation of the Empire State.” The issues that the legislature dealt with, from the Revolution up through the governor election of 1792, made it a powerful state government.

Chapter 2, by Emily Seff, focuses on New York printers and the Declaration of Independence in “’Fix It Up, in Open View’: The Declaration of Independence in Wartime New York.” John Holt, a New York City printer, disseminated the Declaration in newspapers throughout the city. The role of New York delegates at the Second Continental Congress in June and July 1776 is also portrayed.

Benjamin Carp, the author of The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution (2023), brings up the controversy surrounding the burning of New York City in the third chapter, “Raking the Ashes: The New York City Fire in Historical Memory.” Historians have underestimated the success of the disinformation campaign waged by the Continental Army, which had most likely set the fire. Old New Amsterdam was destroyed, paving the way for the building of New York City.

Loyalists, oaths of allegiance, the attraction of Long Island to the British, and the Culper spy ring are all brought together in Christopher F. Minty and John Cording’s essay for Chapter 4: “Long Island and Loyalties: Unveiling the Oath of Allegiance During the Revolutionary War.”

The destructive actions of the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition against the Haudenosaunee Confederation in western New York are detailed in the next chapter, “From Defeated People to Sovereign Nation: The American Revolution in Seneca Country, 1779-94,” by Elana Krischer. The art of diplomacy and treaty-making, especially that of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, proved that the war did not eliminate the Haudenosaunee as a political entity.

George Washington enters the book in Chapter 6: “’The Last Desperate Struggle’ Leaving New York Behind and Paving the Way to Victory at Yorktown,” by Iris de Rode. Washington was obsessed with leading an offensive action against the British at New York City. The advice, actions and diplomacy of three French officers finally got Washington to gather his forces and take advantage of the French fleet in the Chesapeake region: Comte de Rochambeau, Chevalier de La Luzerne, and Chevalier de Chastellux.

The history of slavery in New York completes the book in the final chapter, “’Standing on Their Own Land’ The Struggle for Emancipation in Western New York,” by Lucien Holness. New York took its time regarding slavery’s termination, unlike other northern states after the Revolution, by passing a gradual abolition law. Several advertisements for fugitive slaves are included as a stark reminder of slavery’s presence in New York society.

The book Fire and Freedom: The American Revolution in New York is valuable as a scholarly work because it covers several topics that truly show New York’s role in the fight for American independence. Although it may not have had a huge effect during the start of the war (it is hard to deny Boston’s importance in this respect), New York truly became the center of the new nation for the duration of the conflict, even into the 1790s. Fire and Freedom is an excellent work.

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