American Insurgents, American Patriots by T.H. Breen

[Prof. C.J.]

I just wanted to review and recommend a book on the American Revolution that I read recently.  The book is American Insurgents, American Patriots:  The Revolution of the People by T.H. Breen, published in 2010.  I found it to be a very readable and interesting book that covered a lot of things of which even I (who have taught college history for seven years) was completely ignorant.  It was also a book that I found to be a wonderful complement to Paul Revere's Ride and other works about Lexington and Concord, because it really puts the events of April 19 in a broader context.

Here's the first paragraph of the book, to give you an idea of what it's about:

"Two years before the Declaration of Independence, a young, evangelical colonial population accomplished something truly extraordinary.  In small communities from New Hampshire to Georgia, it successfully challenged the authority of Great Britain, then the strongest empire in the world.  The vast majority of Americans have never heard the people's story.  Instead, we have concentrated attention on the lives of a small group of celebrated leaders.  Without the people, however, there would have been no independent nation.  Confident of their God-given rights, driven by anger against an imperial government that treated them like second-class subjects, American insurgents resisted parliamentary rule, first spontaneously, as loosely organized militants who purged the countryside of Crown officials, and then, increasingly after late-1774, as members of local committees of safety that became schools for revolution."

The book focuses mostly on 1774-75, and mostly (though not exclusively) on New England.  It really plays up the fact of the matter, which was that the common people were taking matters into their own hands and really leading themselves to a large degree, with relatively little 'leadership' from the Continental Congress.  As Breen sums it up on p. 284:  "We should be clear on this point:  popular resistance to Great Britain compelled the members of Congress to accept independence."  In other words, the people were leading themselves, and the Congress eventually followed them.  It's pretty obvious given that fighting broke out in April of 1775, and independence wasn't officially passed by Congress for fifteen months.

Breen looks into who these grassroots insurgents were, what motivated them, how they operated, and how British attempts to 'crack down' virtually always backfired and ended up strengthening support for the insurgents.  There's coverage of the committees of safety and the various ways they operated.  (There's some stuff in that section I found somewhat tedious, but overall the book was excellent.)  He also covers the organization of local militia independent from the governor's (and hence the Crown's) control, how boycotts were organized and enforced, and how relief efforts to Boston (when it was under blockade due to the Coercive Acts) mobilized activists from even distant colonies.  In the process, Breen illustrates how British officials simply ended up losing all aura of legitimacy amongst a large part of the population.  (Kind of reminds me of that famous John Adams quote we all know about how the real revolution was in the hearts and minds of the people, and was accomplished before the fighting started.)

Here's Breen on that point:  "We should make clear at the start exactly what we mean by the American Revolution.  The sine qua non of our Revolution - indeed, of any successful revolution - was the willingness of a sufficient number of people to take up arms against an unelected imperial government that no longer served the common good.  This moment occurred in American sometime in mid-1774.  If we cannot explain why reasonably contented colonists suddenly decided to resist the representatives of the king's government, with violence when necessary, then we will not fully understand the revolutionary character of our own Revolution."

American Insurgents, American Patriots is a touch more scholarly in tone than Paul Revere's Ride, but not by much.  For what it's worth, I'd highly recommend it for anyone interested in making some additions to his or her Revolutionary history library.

[FiremanBob]

Thanks, I've added it to my Amazon cart. FWIW, it was only $6 in paperback.

FWIW, the independence movement was not completely spontaneous. Much of the inspiration and organization was originated by Sam Adams, whose writings about natural rights and constitutional government were widely distributed from 1764 on, and who personally initiated the boycott of English goods, the Continental Congress, and the committees of correspondence. Without his energy, political skill, and eloquence there would have been no revolution. For the whole story, "Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution" by Mark Puls, is a stirring read.

[BD]

It is a great book.
I actually found it on CD at our local library and checked it out for a multi-state drive a couple of years ago.
The book covers a bunch of the resistance leading up to Lexington/Concord.
There are also a number of dangerous old men type stories to use at events.

[Nero]

 

I just finished my own $6 copy yesterday.  There's a lot of good stuff for 'intro to the strikes' and more detailed back story for Paul Revere's Ride.

[LindaFromAppleCreek]

It's also on iTunes, for those who like e-books. $9.99.

Sounds like a good adjunct.

[Pitmaster]

It's also on iTunes, for those who like e-books. $9.99.

Sounds like a good adjunct.

As well as Nook and probably Kindle. I have it on Nook

[fisherdawg]

I just finished a copy I checked out of the Anchorage library.  Excellent background on how the mindset of the Patriots came about. Highly recommended.  I see used copies on Alibris for as little as $0.99 not including S&H, of course.
Can any recommend some books on Samual Adams?
fisherdawg

[Prof. C.J.]

Fisherdawg:

On Sam Adams books, I honestly haven't read one that I really loved.  Maybe there's one out there that I'm unfamiliar with that's top-notch, but all the ones I've personally read have been pretty good at best.

A recently published book along these lines (it's not exclusively focused on S. Adams, but on the Sons of Liberty) that I have not read yet (it's on my list, which is about a mile long) is a book called Desperate Sons:  Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, and the Secret Band of Radicals Who Led the Colonies to War.  Based on the title alone it sounds great, and the reviews I've seen of it so far look pretty good.  I'll probably be reading it in the near future.  I'll be sure to post about it after I do.

[fisherdawg]

Hey Prof. C.J.,
Please let know what think about that book.  I really want to learn more about the Sons of Liberty.
Thanks,
fisherdawg

[Prof. C.J.]

Will do!  I actually have Desperate Sons on the way from Amazon right now.