James M. Smith

James M. Smith graduated with Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and lives in King William County, Virginia. It is his hope to write a political, not military, history of the revolution—the history that John Jay asked Charles Thomson, the secretary to the Continental Congress, to write, but which never got written—telling the story from the point of view of the Loyalists as well as the Patriots. He believes it is important to understand that the American Revolution was as much a civil war as it was a revolution.

Loyalists, People, Politics During the War (1775-1783), Prewar Politics (<1775) January 26, 2022 January 26, 2022

Joseph Galloway’s Plan of Union

Late in September 1774 the Continental Congress was in the middle of an ongoing debate on the means that should be implemented to restore…

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Constitutional Debate, Diaries and Journals, People, Politics During the War (1775-1783) January 11, 2022 January 10, 2022

Undeceived: Who Would Write the Political Story of the Revolution?

In July 1783 John Jay, one of the Americans negotiating a treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, was sitting at…

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Critical Thinking, Political Philosophy, Prewar Politics (<1775), Primary Sources November 4, 2021 November 1, 2021

How America Declared its Rights

During the seventeenth century and into the eighteenth century the political philosophers of Europe were writing and discussing some new and radical ideas on…

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Loyalists, Patriots, Prewar Politics (<1775) May 25, 2021 May 21, 2021

Massachusettensis and Novanglus: The Last Great Debate Prior to the American Revolution

When John Adams returned to Massachusetts after the session of the First Continental Congress, he was surprised to find that there was growing opposition…