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Letters and Correspondence Posted on

A “Truly Noble” Resistance: The Sons of Liberty in Connecticut

The role of Connecticut’s Sons of Liberty is one that exemplifies the state’s rich history of self-governance and fiercely independent spirit. Their swift reaction to the passage of the Stamp Act of 1765 shattered the political landscape of Connecticut, known ironically as “the land of steady habits.” Later, a few select Sons and their respective […]

by Dayne Rugh
Features Posted on

The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution

The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution by Lindsay M. Chervinsky (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 2020) In his slim volume on George Washington’s presidency, Forrest McDonald concluded that Washington had actually “done little in his own right, had often opposed the best measures of his subordinates, and had taken […]

by Alec D. Rogers
Engineering and Technology Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Jeff Dacus on the “Tower of Victory” at the Siege of Fort Watson

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Jeff Dacus on how Light Horse Harry Lee and Francis Marion were able to successfully capture British Fort Watson using a siege tower designed by Maj. Hezekiah Maham. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. Dispatches is a […]

by Editors
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People Posted on

Certain British and British American Actors in the Southern Theater of the War

This article supplements one of mine that appeared in the Journal of the American Revolutionin November 2016.[1] Based partly on The Cornwallis Papers,[2] it provides a wide-ranging set of reappraisals compartmentalised under the sub-headings below. James Paterson Paterson, as he signed his surname, had been appointed Lt. Colonel of the 63rd Regiment on June 15, […]

by Ian Saberton
Journals Posted on

“Very Cold & Nothing Remarkable”: the Journal of Dr. Edmund Hagen, Privateer and Prisoner of War, Part 2 of 2

This article continues an examination of the journal kept by Dr. Edmund Hagen of Scarborough, Maine, begun in “Dispatch’t to America’: the Journal of Dr. Edmund Hagen, Privateer and Prisoner of War.” This second article presents and examines the second half of Dr. Edmund Hagen’s journal, dealing with Hagen’s experience on board the prison ship […]

by Kadri Kallikorm-Rhodes
Journals Posted on

“Dispatch’t Him for America”: the Journal of Dr. Edmund Hagen, Privateer and Prisoner of War, Part 1 of 2

Edmund Hagen presumably never intended the publication of his daily journal of his 1776 stint as the surgeon on a successful, but ultimately ill-fated, privateer. But it is exactly the fact that his journal contemporaneously records what he at the time regarded as the important facts of the day, rather than retrospectively identifying important events […]

by Kadri Kallikorm-Rhodes
Arts & Literature Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Greg Aaron on the American Revolution’s Influence on Superheroes

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews cybersecurity expert and former trade book editor Greg Aaron on the influence of the American Revolution on the development of some of the most iconic Superheroes and the promotion of the ideals of America in the face of intolerance and fascism. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles […]

by Editors
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Constitutional Debate Posted on

Creating Order: Rufus King and the Nascent American Republic

On the afternoon of April 30, 1789, George Washington stepped onto the balcony of the freshly-renovated and renamed Federal Hall on Wall Street in Lower Manhattan and took the presidential oath of office. Then, stepping into the Senate chamber, now-President Washington gave his inaugural address. He began plaintively, admitting in his opening line that “Among […]

by Keith Muchowski
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Battles Posted on

The Battles of Connecticut Farms and Springfield 1780

The Battles of Connecticut Farms and Springfield 1780 by Edward G. Lengel.  (Yardley, PA:  Westholme Publishing, LLC, 2020) Famed Washington historian Edward G. Lengel (editor-in-chief of the Papers of George Washington and author of General George Washington: A Military Life) reminds readers that the recognizable titles of some Revolutionary War battles were not the only ones […]

by Timothy Symington
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People Posted on

An American Bolingbroke: John Taylor of Caroline’s Republican Opposition, 1792–1794, Part 2 of 2

Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, in the first half of the eighteenth century, and John Taylor of Caroline in the 1790s, both feared that once power had been secured by an unpatriotic faction it might employ a standing army to effect the destruction of the republic. Additionally, Taylor was among those who felt that the […]

by James A. Cornelius
Constitutional Debate Posted on

An American Bolingbroke: John Taylor of Caroline’s Republican Opposition, 1792–1794, Part 1 of 2

From 1792 to 1794, John Taylor of Caroline, a senator from Virginia, was engaged in a heated party struggle between Jeffersonian Republicans and Hamiltonian Federalists over the implementation of the latter’s new economic program. Taylor, despite being largely unknown by non-specialists today, has been called by Gordon S. Wood “the conscience of the Republican party” […]

by James A. Cornelius
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Jett Conner on Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and the Louisiana Purchase

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews political scientist, historian, and JAR contributor Jett Conner on his recent article about Thomas Paine’s and Thomas Jefferson’s interpretations of the role of presidential powers used by Jefferson to justify the Louisiana Purchase. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American […]

by Editors
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Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on

L’Expédition Particulière crosses the Atlantic: The French Rally to the American Cause

Following American success at Saratoga in the autumn of 1777, French King Louis XVI signed the Treaty of Amity and Friendship, establishing open French assistance to the American cause. In May 1780 nearly 6,000 soldiers and sailors left the Port of Brest in northwest France and sailed across the Atlantic, arriving in Rhode Island in […]

by Kim Burdick
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Engineering and Technology Posted on

The Fall of Fort Washington: The “Bunker Hill Effect”?

It was the one of the worst defeats suffered by the Americans during the War for Independence, certainly the worst over which George Washington had direct command. Historian David McCullough perhaps characterized the debacle best, writing that after experiencing “one humiliating, costly reverse after another,” during the New York campaign of 1776, “the surrender of […]

by Derrick E. Lapp
Constitutional Debate Posted on

John Marshall: Hamilton 2.0

Celebrated for his stirring words in the Declaration of Independence, and having profited upon the popularity since, Thomas Jefferson was now America’s chief magistrate—and its most self-satisfied citizen. To him, the Washington and Adams years had been a “reign of witches”—a sudden reversion from the ideals he had laid out in that document—a dark age […]

by Geoff Smock
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Critical Thinking Posted on

Documents of the Revolution: A Continuum of Conviction

Those familiar with American history know that the Articles of Confederation served as the first constitution of the unified states during the American Revolution. A foundational document, it begins by establishing the name of the confederation of colonies as “The United States of America.” The creation of the Articles is intimately tied with the drafting […]

by Christopher Warren
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Christian M. McBurney on General Charles Lee and the Oath of Allegiance

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews author, attorney, and JAR contributor, Christian M. McBurney on the enigmatic General Charles Lee and his role in imposing an oath of allegiance on Newport, Rhode Island, Tories in 1775. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. Dispatches is a […]

by Editors
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Economics Posted on

Hylton v. U.S. and Alexander Hamilton’s Defense of Congressional Taxing Authority

In 1796 Daniel Hylton, a wealthy Virginian farmer, brought a suit before the United States Supreme Court arguing that a federal tax on carriages violated a constitutional distinction between direct and indirect taxation. While the Constitution granted Congress unlimited authority to pass indirect taxes on imported goods, the framers insisted that direct taxes on property […]

by Nathan Hotes and Frank W. Garmon Jr.
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Engineering and Technology Posted on

Tower of Victory

As far back as the eleventh century B.C. attackers confronted by fortified cities and towns, castles, and forts, used siege towers to elevate their own soldiers to heights equal to the defenders. The Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese all used such weapons to defeat enemies situated behind high walls. These machines of war provided the […]

by Jeff Dacus
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Diplomacy Posted on

Opposing the Franco-American Alliance: The Case of Anne-Robert Jacques Turgot

The participation of the French on the side of the newly declared independent American colonies is widely acknowledged as the factor that tipped the balance in the American Revolution and ultimately led to the defeat of the British. This alliance, actually two alliances—one of commerce and one of military cooperation—was concluded in early 1778, but […]

by Richard J. Werther
Features Posted on

Contributor Close-up: George Kotlik

What inspired you to start researching and writing about the American Revolution? The North American War of Independence has been a passion of mine for a long time. I enjoy learning about lesser-known Revolutionary-era topics. Sharing the information I discover with the broader public informs people of forgotten, and often significant, events from history which contributes […]

by Editors
Critical Thinking Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Geoff Smock on the Influence of the Enlightenment on Thomas Jefferson

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews teacher and JAR contributor Geoff Smock on Thomas Jefferson’s enlightenment-influenced views on pandemics, the French Revolution, Shays’ Rebellion, and other events of his time. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. Dispatches is a free podcast that puts a […]

by Editors
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Economics Posted on

“The Right of Making Such a Law, Has Never Been Questioned:” Reasons Against the Renewal of the Sugar Act, Part 3 of 3

Remonstrance Against the Renewal Rhode Island merchants, prompted by the January letter from Boston merchants, requested that Governor Hopkins call a special meeting of the General Assembly. The merchants needed little prompting; they had already drafted preliminary essays explaining the economic problems caused by the Sugar Act. In fact, newspapers had for months been full […]

by Ken Shumate
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Features Posted on

The Boston Massacre: A Family History

The Boston Massacre:  A Family History by Serena Zabin. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) The significant other of this particular reviewer saw him reading yet another book about the Revolution, and still another book about the Boston Massacre. “Haven’t you learned enough about it?” she asked. This reviewer honestly did not jump into Serena Zabin’s recent […]

by Timothy Symington