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 Autobiography and Biography Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: David Price on Thomas Knowlton’s Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and JAR contributor David Price on the brief, but memorable, contribution of Thomas Knowlton to the American cause. 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 […]

by Editors
1
Critical Thinking Posted on

A Further Evaluation of the Carlisle Peace Commission’s Initiative

In March, 1778, Lord North, the British Prime Minister, authorized the Carlisle Peace Commission to negotiate with the Continental Congress, terms for reconciliation rather than independence, in an effort to end the war with the American colonies. According to a number of accounts, the arrangements that England was willing to offer were extremely generous.[1] Nonetheless, […]

by Marvin L. Simner
1
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Jonathan Curran on Public Opinion and the Whiskey Rebellion

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews USMA instructor and JAR contributor Jonathan Curran on his research into how public opinion about those protesting the taxes on whiskey in Western Pennsylvania changed over the course of the conflict. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, […]

by Editors
3
Letters and Correspondence Posted on

The Varick Transcripts and the Preservation of the War

Five years into the war, with his papers piling up and stuffed into overflowing trunks that followed the general from headquarters to headquarters, George Washington took the extraordinary step of asking for help to organize and preserve these papers, seeing them for what they were, “valuable documents” of public importance, living histories of the fight […]

by Justin McHenry
Constitutional Debate Posted on

Stranger Citizens: Migrant Influence and National Power in the Early American Republic

BOOK REVIEW: Stranger Citizens: Migrant Influence and National Power in the Early American Republic by John McNelis O’Keefe (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2021) The infamous decision that Chief Justice Roger B. Taney authored in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) is widely considered to be one of the most notorious to have been issued from the United States’ Supreme […]

by Timothy Symington
1
Battles Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Dean Snow on Continental and Militia Cavalry at the Battle of Saratoga

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews emeritus professor and JAR contributor Dean Snow on his research into the Continental and militia cavalry at the Battle of Saratoga, both of which were critical to the American victory. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, […]

by Editors
Critical Thinking Posted on

Jefferson and Burke on Marat, Danton, and Robespierre

Thomas Jefferson is well-known for his so-called “Frenchified” stance.[1] On the topic of the relationship between Jefferson and French Revolution, scholarly accounts often stop at depicting Jefferson’s “sympathy for the French Revolution and his aspirations for a democratic republicanism,”[2] merely focusing on Jefferson’s so-called “radicalism.”[3] Scholars tend to describe Jefferson’s enthusiasm for the French Revolution […]

by Haimo Li
19
People Posted on

10 Amazing Women of the Revolutionary War

“I desire you would remember the ladies”—March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams to her husband, John Adams After reading the “Most Overrated Revolutionary” and the “Most Underrated Revolutionary,” and the amazing contributions by each and every person, it started me thinking about “the ladies” that I feel, in their own ways, helped achieve independence. The impact that […]

by Pamela Murrow
1
Features Posted on

Patriotism and Profit

BOOK REVIEW: Patriotism & Profit: Washington, Hamilton, Schuyler & the Rivalry for America’s Capital City by Susan Nagel (Pegasus Books, 2021). In Patriotism & Profit: Washington, Hamilton, Schuyler & the Rivalry for American’s Capital City, Susan Nagel recounts the drama surrounding the Compromise of 1790 and the protracted struggle over the location of the nation’s capital. […]

by Kelly Mielke
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Review: Radical Hamilton

BOOK REVIEW: Radical Hamilton: Economic Lessons From a Misunderstood Founder by Christian Parenti (New York: Verso, 2020) Alexander Hamilton’s legacy has undergone a radical shift among historians over the last twenty years—never mind among the broader public (thanks, Broadway!). In that way, the title of Christian Parenti’s reassessment of Hamilton is as appropriate as reassessing Hamilton […]

by Geoff Smock
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: John A. Ruddiman on James Monroe’s America Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews John A. Ruddiman, Associate Professor of History at Wake Forest University, on his recent article about James Monroe’s military experience 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 the […]

by Editors
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Thomas Knowlton’s Revolution

The story of Thomas Knowlton in the American Revolution is brief but meaningful. He was only thirty-five at his death, arguably a full-fledged hero in what George Washington termed “the “glorious Cause”[1] of American independence. The Connecticut colonel remains largely obscure in our collective historical consciousness but has been long recognized by serious students of […]

by David Price
Constitutional Debate Posted on

Review: Two Revolutions and the Constitution

BOOK REVIEW: Two Revolutions and the Constitution: How the English and American Revolutions Produced the American Constitution by James D. R. Philips (Lanham, MD: Hamilton Books, 2021) In his concise Two Revolutions and the Constitution, the Australian lawyer and law professor James D. R. Philips traces the roots of the American Founding back to England’s Glorious […]

by Jeff Broadwater
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Jordan Baker on the Cherokee-American War

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Jordan Baker on the Cherokee people’s response to encroaching settlers along the southern frontier during the first year of the Revolution, when the decades-old conflict became an all-out war. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, […]

by Editors
11
Law Posted on

“Good and Sufficient Testimony:” The Development of the Revolutionary War Pension Plan

One of the greatest sources of information on the American Revolution is the collection of pension applications submitted by American veterans of the war or their families. Over 80,000 files are available to researchers as part of the National Archives and Records Administration microfilm publication M804. Intent on finding some desired morsel of information, however, […]

by Michael Barbieri
Features Posted on

Review: Crisis at the Chesapeake

BOOK REVIEW: Crisis at the Chesapeake: The Royal Navy and the Struggle for America, 1755-1783 by Quintin Barry (Warwick, UK: Helion and Company, 2021) Although the main title of this book implies a focus on the 1781 naval operations in the Yorktown campaign, the subtitle is more accurate: a comprehensive look at the Revolutionary War and the […]

by John R. Maass
Constitutional Debate Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: James D. R. Philips on the Influence of the English Revolution on the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and historian James D. R. Philips on his research about the influence of the English Revolution on the ideals of the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, […]

by Editors
Culture Posted on

The Politics and Iconography of Tammany in the Early American Republic

On the morning of Saturday, July 14, 1804 the funeral cortège for Alexander Hamilton proceeded northward to Trinity Church where the former Revolutionary War officer and treasury secretary would be interred. Fittingly there was a substantial turnout; in addition to family, friends and the curious public were members of the Society of the Cincinnati, the […]

by Keith Muchowski
1
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Silas Talbot, Continental Army Mariner

Silas Talbot was a remarkable Revolutionary War notable who was astute and tactically flexible. He was at various times an artisan, entrepreneur, privateer, Rhode Island Militia officer, Continental Army officer, Continental Navy officer, United States Navy captain and United States Congressman. Talbot’s multifarious vocations, extraordinary exploits and changing fortunes reflect the intrepidity of one unusual […]

by Louis Arthur Norton
Patriots Posted on

Review: Vermont’s Ebenezer Allen

Vermont’s Ebenezer Allen: Patriot, Commando and Emancipator by Glenn Fay Jr. (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2021) Ethan Allen, the militia leader who shares credit for taking Fort Ticonderoga early in the Revolution, is the most recognizable historical figure from early Vermont history. His brother Ira is also famous for his association with the Green Mountain […]

by Timothy Symington
Arts & Literature Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Edna Gabler on the Silence of Slavery in Revolutionary War Art

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews writer, editor, researcher, and JAR contributor Edna Gabler on her recent study of images of enslaved persons in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century portraits and paintings of Revolutionary War subjects. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, […]

by Editors