The Will of the People: The Revolutionary Birth of America
T H Breen
(Author)
Description
A prize-winning historian provides the missing piece in the story of America's founding, introducing us to the ordinary men and women who turned a faltering rebellion against colonial rule into an unexpectedly potent and enduring revolution.
Over eight years of war, ordinary Americans accomplished something extraordinary. Far from the actions of the Continental Congress and the Continental Army, they took responsibility for the course of the revolution. They policed their neighbors, sent troops and weapons to distant strangers committed to the same cause, and identified friends and traitors. By taking up the reins of power but also setting its limits, they ensured America's success. Without their participation there would have been no victory over Great Britain, no independence. The colonial rebellion would have ended like so many others--in failure. The driving force behind the creation of a country based on the will of the people, T. H. Breen shows, was in fact the people itself. In villages, towns, and cities from Georgia to New Hampshire, Americans managed local affairs, negotiated shared sacrifice, and participated in a political system in which each believed they were as good as any other. Presenting hundreds of stories, Breen captures the powerful sense of equality and responsibility resulting from this process of self-determination. With striking originality, Breen restores these missing Americans to our founding and shows why doing so is essential for understanding why our revolution ended differently from others that have shaped the modern world. In the midst of revolution's anger, fear, and passion--the forgotten elements in any effective resistance--these Americans preserved a political culture based on the rule of law. In the experiences of these unsung revolutionaries can be seen the creation of America's singular political identity.Product Details
Price
$29.95
$27.85
Publisher
Belknap Press
Publish Date
September 17, 2019
Pages
272
Dimensions
6.4 X 9.4 X 1.1 inches | 1.25 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780674971790
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
T. H. BREEN is William Smith Mason Professor of American History at Northwestern University. He is the author or editor of eight books, including Tobacco Culture and Puritans and Adventurers.
Reviews
The American Revolution involved not simply the wisdom of a few great men but, more important, the passions, fears, and religiosity of ordinary people. This is the sensible point of this important and lucidly written book.--Gordon S. Wood, author of Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
There is no single story of the American Revolution, Breen argues crisply and persuasively. While not dismissing the essential contributions of the Founders, he insists we cannot fully understand how the revolution succeeded until we are also attentive to the emotional discourse of ordinary people from small communities and port towns from which a lasting political culture took shape.--Barbara Oberg, Editor Emeritus, Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Princeton University
Is it possible to have popular government without popular excess? In asking that very timely question, Breen ingeniously demonstrates what the un-excessive American Revolution was able to accomplish--and what it was unable to complete. Revolutions continue today; today's revolutionaries would learn a great deal from this masterful study.--Joyce E. Chaplin, Harvard University
A provocative and timely contribution to our understanding of the American Revolution. Breen shows us a nation-making war that channeled political passions in surprisingly constructive, stabilizing ways. The Will of the People deserves the widest possible audience.--Peter S. Onuf, University of Virginia
The American Revolution was made not just on the battlefields, in the halls of power, or in the minds of intellectuals, T. H. Breen argues in this elegant and persuasive work. Communities of ordinary men and women--farmers, workers, and artisans who kept the revolutionary faith until victory over the British forces was achieved--were essential to the effort. The Will of the People deftly brings their perspectives and contributions into full view.--Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard University
Ordinary people, Breen reminds us, were the Revolution's true heroes. These men and women made America's birth possible, and this marvelous book reminds us that it is their example that keeps the Revolution alive today.--Eliga Gould, author of Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire
Breen has written a study of the American Revolution unlike any other. He recovers the lost world of revolutionaries, allowing readers to witness one of history's most momentous events, ordinary Americans, animated by hope and fear, founding a nation. This is a book crafted by a master historian writing at the top of his game.--Patrick Griffin, University of Notre Dame
The 'revolution' that concerns T. H. Breen...was not led by John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Rather, Breen argues convincingly, it was conducted by thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of ordinary (future) Americans in towns and villages often far from the fighting...[An] elegantly written book.-- (11/22/2019)
Looks closely at the struggle for American independence and asks what made the American revolutionary experience so different.--William Anthony Hay"Wall Street Journal" (09/23/2019)
An examination of the effects of the American Revolution on ordinary people, with some anxious glances at our political divisions today...Breen wonders if, in our current era, we will be able to employ the essential lessons about unity that he has extracted from the past...Enlightening, revolutionary thinking.--Kirkus Reviews (07/01/2019)
Tells a new story about the American Revolution, one mostly left in the deep shade of the Founding Fathers' towering shadows. Eschewing the standard histories of the Revolution that place primary importance upon its political theories and legal reasoning, Breen revises this overdone focus to highlight the 'true sites of resistance'--the small communities across the fledgling nation who daily sustained the fight for independence...Extremely well-paced and engaging.-- (10/29/2019)
Breen has done an outstanding job of closing the loop on telling the untapped history of the average American's role in deciding to throw off British rule and establish a new country.--Jerry D. Lenaburg"New York Journal of Books" (09/01/2019)
Brings to the forefront the memories of those underappreciated Americans who made difficult decisions, crafted plans, and committed to sacrifices for the common good during the Revolutionary era...Original and enlightening.--Megan King"Journal of the American Revolution" (09/18/2019)
There is no single story of the American Revolution, Breen argues crisply and persuasively. While not dismissing the essential contributions of the Founders, he insists we cannot fully understand how the revolution succeeded until we are also attentive to the emotional discourse of ordinary people from small communities and port towns from which a lasting political culture took shape.--Barbara Oberg, Editor Emeritus, Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Princeton University
Is it possible to have popular government without popular excess? In asking that very timely question, Breen ingeniously demonstrates what the un-excessive American Revolution was able to accomplish--and what it was unable to complete. Revolutions continue today; today's revolutionaries would learn a great deal from this masterful study.--Joyce E. Chaplin, Harvard University
A provocative and timely contribution to our understanding of the American Revolution. Breen shows us a nation-making war that channeled political passions in surprisingly constructive, stabilizing ways. The Will of the People deserves the widest possible audience.--Peter S. Onuf, University of Virginia
The American Revolution was made not just on the battlefields, in the halls of power, or in the minds of intellectuals, T. H. Breen argues in this elegant and persuasive work. Communities of ordinary men and women--farmers, workers, and artisans who kept the revolutionary faith until victory over the British forces was achieved--were essential to the effort. The Will of the People deftly brings their perspectives and contributions into full view.--Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard University
Ordinary people, Breen reminds us, were the Revolution's true heroes. These men and women made America's birth possible, and this marvelous book reminds us that it is their example that keeps the Revolution alive today.--Eliga Gould, author of Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire
Breen has written a study of the American Revolution unlike any other. He recovers the lost world of revolutionaries, allowing readers to witness one of history's most momentous events, ordinary Americans, animated by hope and fear, founding a nation. This is a book crafted by a master historian writing at the top of his game.--Patrick Griffin, University of Notre Dame
The 'revolution' that concerns T. H. Breen...was not led by John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Rather, Breen argues convincingly, it was conducted by thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of ordinary (future) Americans in towns and villages often far from the fighting...[An] elegantly written book.-- (11/22/2019)
Looks closely at the struggle for American independence and asks what made the American revolutionary experience so different.--William Anthony Hay"Wall Street Journal" (09/23/2019)
An examination of the effects of the American Revolution on ordinary people, with some anxious glances at our political divisions today...Breen wonders if, in our current era, we will be able to employ the essential lessons about unity that he has extracted from the past...Enlightening, revolutionary thinking.--Kirkus Reviews (07/01/2019)
Tells a new story about the American Revolution, one mostly left in the deep shade of the Founding Fathers' towering shadows. Eschewing the standard histories of the Revolution that place primary importance upon its political theories and legal reasoning, Breen revises this overdone focus to highlight the 'true sites of resistance'--the small communities across the fledgling nation who daily sustained the fight for independence...Extremely well-paced and engaging.-- (10/29/2019)
Breen has done an outstanding job of closing the loop on telling the untapped history of the average American's role in deciding to throw off British rule and establish a new country.--Jerry D. Lenaburg"New York Journal of Books" (09/01/2019)
Brings to the forefront the memories of those underappreciated Americans who made difficult decisions, crafted plans, and committed to sacrifices for the common good during the Revolutionary era...Original and enlightening.--Megan King"Journal of the American Revolution" (09/18/2019)
