*** All JAR Articles ***

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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
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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
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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
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: David Kindy on the Discovery of a Rare Thirteen-Star American Flag

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor David Kindy on the discovery of a thirteen-star American flag that was flown during the American Revolution, a very rare and important artifact. 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
Reviews Posted on

George Washington’s Momentous Year: Volume 1, The Philadelphia Campaign

BOOK REVIEW: George Washington’s Momentous Year: Twelve Months that Transformed the Revolution—Volume 1, The Philadelphia Campaign by Gary Ecelbarger (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2004. $32.50, hardcover) Gary Ecelbarger is a skilled writer who weaves an interesting account of Gen. George Washington’s leadership and campaign management challenges in this, the first of a planned two-volume analysis. […]

by Patrick H. Hannum
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Critical Thinking Posted on

Boudica and the American Revolution

In 1991, Queen Elizabeth II gave an address to a joint session of the United States Congress, the first address of its kind delivered by a British monarch. As part of her remarks, she reflected on the end of the American Revolution and eventual partnership between the United States and the United Kingdom. “Some people […]

by Liam Connor
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Linda J. Rice and Teaching Young People about the American Revolution Through Literature

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and educator, Linda J. Rice, the James S. Reid / Standard Products Professor of Humanities and Professor of English at Ohio University, about using Newbery Award-winning books to teach students about the American Revolution. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern […]

by Editors
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Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Christopher Gadsden and the Origins of a Revolutionary

Christopher Gadsden arrived as a South Carolina delegate to the Second Continental Congress three weeks after fighting at Lexington and Concord lit the tinder for the American Revolution. He succinctly captured the backlash of collective anxiety when he created the iconic flag of a coiled and agitated rattlesnake conspicuously warning Britain of the ramifications with […]

by George Burkes
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: David Otersen on Parliament’s Perspective on the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor David Otersen on Parliament’s reaction to the American contention that they were not subject to the legislative authority of Great Britain, a bedrock principle of eighteenth-century British constitutionalism. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, […]

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

Our Favorite Quotations About the Declaration of Independence

We asked our contributors for their favorite quotation about the Declaration of Independence, by a person who was alive when it was announced. David Price John Haslet, officer in the Delaware Regiment: “I congratulate you, sir, on this important day, which restores to every American his birthright—a day which every freeman will record with gratitude, […]

by Editors
Reviews Posted on

Franklin

TELEVISION REVIEW: Franklin. Directed by Tim Van Patten. Written by Kirk Ellis and Howard Korder. Featuring Michael Douglas, Noah Jupe, Daniel Mays, and Eddie Marsan. Released April 12–May 17, 2024. Apple TV+. Franklin, as a television miniseries, is well done. Rarely do we see this time period—the eighteenth century—televised. This eight-hour program has spectacular production […]

by Al Dickenson
Critical Thinking Posted on

The Story of Isaac Bissell—and the Legend of Israel Bissell

In April 1775, Isaac Bissell was a crucial link between the Patriots of Massachusetts and the government of neighboring Connecticut. His actions contributed to alerting many communities along the Atlantic coast about the outbreak of war in Lexington. Nevertheless, through a chain of circumstances, Isaac Bissell’s name has been overwritten in history books.[1] This story […]

by J. L. Bell
Frontier Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Jason Cherry on William Trent

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and author Jason Cherry on his new book, William Trent: Factor of Ambition. 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 the […]

by Brady J. Crytzer
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Reviews Posted on

William Trent: Factor of Ambition

BOOK REVIEW: William Trent: Factor of Ambition by Jason A. Cherry. (Mechanicsburg, PA: Sunberry Press, 2024. $34.95 Paper) Independent historian Jason A. Cherry has turned an interest in the activities of an unfamiliar western merchant during the antebellum colonial period into a fascinating and interesting book. His biography William Trent: Factor of Ambition details the […]

by Timothy Symington
People Posted on

John Warren’s Loss of His Brother Joseph Warren

On Saturday, June 17, 1775, Abigail Adams and her seven-year-old son, John Quincy, stood on Penn’s Hill near her home in Braintree, Massachusetts. They watched sulfuric smoke cloud the sky and heard cannon thunder across Boston Harbor from British ships in the Mystic and Charles Rivers bombarding colonial forces who had built a redoubt on […]

by Salina B. Baker
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The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Fighting in the Shadowlands: Loyalist Colonel Thomas Waters and the Southern Strategy

Thomas Waters of Georgia was present in crucial events of the American Revolution in Georgia and South Carolina. He represented as an individual the problems of class and conscience affected by British efforts to restore the rebelling Southern colonies by “Americanizing” the war, what has been called the Southern Strategy. After 1778, the King’s ministers […]

by Robert Scott Davis
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People Posted on

Eight Clues: Recovering a Life in Fragments, Arthur Bowler in Slavery and Freedom

In January 1792 forty-three-year-old Arthur Bowler left Halifax, Nova Scotia, on his second Transatlantic journey. Captured in Africa almost thirty years earlier, enslaved in Newport, Rhode Island, for nearly twenty years, a free man for ten, he was returning to Africa. He left fragmentary clues buried in archives on three continents which illuminate an “ordinary” […]

by Jane Lancaster
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: William Caldwell on Isaac Shelby, Patrick Ferguson, and the Power of a Good Story

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor William Caldwell on Patrick Ferguson and what he supposedly said in the run-up to the Battle of Kings Mountain. 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 […]

by Editors
Memorials Posted on

France Pays Tribute to Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin died at his home in Philadelphia at eleven o’clock p.m. on April 17, 1790; he was eighty-four years old. On June 4, Benjamin Vaughan, a doctor, Member of Parliament and friend of Franklin, wrote to the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, another friend of Franklin. In his letter that arrived on June 10, he […]

by Bob Ruppert
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: David Price on Albigence Waldo and Valley Forge

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian, author, and JAR contributor David Price about the important diary of Albigence Waldo that provides important information about Valley Forge and the Continental army. 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
Prewar Politics (<1775) Posted on

Antiquity and Loyalist Dissent in Revolutionary America, 1765–1776

BOOK REVIEW: Antiquity and Loyalist Dissent in Revolutionary America, 1765-1776 by Daniel R. Moy (Anthem Press, 2024. $110.00) Daniel R. Moy’s Antiquity and Loyalist Dissent in Revolutionary America attempts to analyze ideological warfare between Whigs and Tories, with particular attention to ancient Greco-Roman and Mediterranean influences. Moy, currently a lecturer at the University of Virginia […]

by Kelsey DeFord
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Timothy Symington discusses his new Book, Huzzah! Toasts

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Timothy Symington about his new book, “Huzza!” Toasting a New Nation, 1760–1815. 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 the […]

by Editors