The American Revolution: Writings from the Pamphlet Debate: Vol. 2, 1773–1776

Library of America #266

by Gordon S. Wood (Editor), Various

Often seen as the beginning of the American story, the momentous decision taken in Philadelphia on July 2, 1776, also marked the endpoint of an extraordinary political debate that determined the fate of the first British empire. Largely carried on in pamphlets, the instant media of their day, this war of words fueled the escalation of tensions between Great Britain and her North American colonies in the period from 1773 to 1776. During these crucial years a political controversy that had earlier focused on questions of representation and consent deepened into a more fateful contest over the nature of sovereignty itself.

The pamphlets gathered in this second volume of a two-volume set were written both by Americans and Britons, though such distinctions can be misleading in light of the increasingly interconnected character of the empire in this period. Englishman Thomas Paine had been resident in the colonies for only fourteen months when he wrote Common Sense, the most influential expression of the “American” position during the debate, while Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson, who in two pamphlets articulates the “British” position as forcefully as any writer collected here, had deep ancestral roots in the colonies. The fluidity of these categories shaped the debate traced in this volume, indeed it can be said to have been the central question to be resolved: were Americans and Britons one people, one nation, or not?

Here, in texts that vividly capture the mounting intensity of the imperial crisis, Thomas Jefferson presents a vision of a radically new kind of empire in the work that first made him famous; James Wilson boldly rejects Parliament’s authority over the colonies; Charles Lee, a British officer and future American general, offers words of encouragement for colonial militia; Joseph Galloway puts forward an ingenious but ill-fated plan for preserving union with Great Britain; Samuel Johnson, writing on behalf of the British government, gives vent to his deep animus for the Americans and their pretensions to liberty; and Edmund Burke, in a speech delivered in the House of Commons just a month before Lexington and Concord, makes an eloquent case for reconciliation before it’s too late.

Prepared by the nation’s leading historian of the American Revolution, this volume includes an introduction, headnotes, biographical notes about the writers, a chronology charting the rise and fall of the first British empire, a textual essay describing the reception and influence of each work, and detailed explanatory notes. As a special feature, it also presents typographic reproductions of the pamphlets’ original title pages.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Politics, American Revolution, Essays, Anthologies

995 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2015

About the author

Gordon Stewart Wood is an American historian and professor at Brown University. He is a recipient of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992). His book The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (1969) won the 1970 Bancroft Prize. In 2010, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama.

Reviews

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The American Revolution Pamphlet Debate -- 2

The Library of America has published a two-volume box set of writings from the pamphlet debate on the American Revolution from the years 1764 -- 1776. The volumes were prepared and edited by Gordon Wood, a highly regarded historian of the American Revolution. I have reviewed the box set here on Goodreads, but I wanted to follow-up with reviews of the individual volumes. This review is of the second volume which includes 20 pamphlets written between 1773 -- 1776 from a variety of perspectives on the relationship of the Thirteen Colonies to Great Britain. The first volume of the set includes 19 pamphlets covering the years 1764 -- 1772. The pamphlets begin after the conclusion of the French-Indian War. Tensions between Britain and the colonies rose as Britain tried to tax and regulate the lives of Americans without American representation in Parliament.

The division of the set into two volumes is somewhat arbitrary (the final pamphlet of volume 1 leads directly into the opening pamphlet of volume 2); but on the whole the pamphlets in this second volume present the issues between the colonies and Britain more sharply and are easier to read than the pamphlets in the first volume. The history of the three year period 1773 -- 1776 will be more familiar to most readers as will be more of the authors of the pamphlets. This volume begins with the records of a debate between the Loyalist governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, and the members of the Council and the House of Representatives of Massachusetts. The candid exchange of views in this pamphlet is valuable for understanding the division between Britain and America. The volume concludes with a second pamphlet by Hutchinson. By August 1776, Hutchinson had moved to London. The Declaration of Independence had just become available in Britain, and Hutchinson wrote an extensive section-by-section critique. This pamphlet is also valuable in showing the response of a Loyalist long-term resident, historian and official of the colonies to the momentous events of the American Revolution.

This volume includes the most famous of the pamphlets and a revered document of American independence. Thomas Paine ignited the population's desire for independence with his 1776 pamphlet, "Common Sense" which went through at least 25 editions and proclaimed: "The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their freedom from the events of a few months." Much less familiar than "Common Sense" is a reply to Paine written by Charles Inglis and also included in this collection. One of the valuable features of this collection is that it includes many instances of pamphlets written in response to each other.

Other famous pamphlets in this volume include Edmund Burke's 1775 speech urging conciliation with the colonies. This speech was for many years taught as a model of rhetoric and argumentation and it still deserves to be studied. An early and highly radical work by Thomas Jefferson, "A Summary View of the Rights of British America" written in 1774 is included. This short, sharply written pamphlet helped establish Jefferson's reputation. Another famous writer, Samuel Johnson, wrote a pamphlet at the behest of the Crown, "Taxation no Tyranny" written in Johnson's inimitable style and highly critical of the Americans. A reply to Johnson by an anonymous author follows Johnson's pamphlet.

Some of the best writing in the volume is by writers who are less well-known. These include pamphlets taking various positions written by James Wilson, Samuel Seabury, Thomas Chandler, Philip Livingston, and Charles Lee, which effectively form a set. Taken together, they offer an overview of the debate between Patriots and Loyalists. I also enjoyed reading the pamphlet by Moses Mather, the descendant of a long line of Puritans, in fervent support of American independence. Although not a main theme in the volume, several authors, both Patriot and Loyalist, notice the irony involved in the American quest for independence and freedom while keeping their slaves in chains. The Patriot writer and minister Ebenezer Baldwin, was highly troubled by this aspect of the American position. Baldwin wrote:

"The present alarming situation of things therefore loudly calls upon us to examine what sins in particular have provoked heaven thus to come out in judgment against us; and perhaps there cannot be a better rule of determining than to enquire what sins these calamities are properly retributive of, and by this rule will not the enslaving the poor Africans in the colonies stand forth in front of the dreadful catalogue? Are not the colonies guilty of forcibly depriving them of their natural rights? Will not the arguments we use in defense of our own liberties against the claims of the British parliament, equally conclude in their favour? And is it not easy, to see there is something retributive in the present judgment of heaven? We keep our fellow men in slavery -- heaven is suffering others to enslave us."

The volume includes an opening essay, valuable introductions to each pamphlet by Wood, a chronology of the First British Empire, notes on the publication history of each pamphlet, and a short biography of each writer. This material is highly useful in helping to understand the pamphlets in their historical context. This book and its companion volume provide a valuable way for readers to think about the nature of the American Revolution and its continued significance. The Library of America kindly provided me with a review copy of the box set.

Robin Friedman

[Steven Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful set of pamphlets from the Revolutionary era. . . . This two volume set includes pamphlets published between 1764 and 1776. The volume includes some of the most important publications of the era and provides a fine resource for those who want to explore the intellectual background of the Revolution.

Just listing some of the documents emphasizes the centrality of the works included:

James Otis, "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved"
Thomas Paine, "Common Sense"
Edmund Burke, "The Speech of Edmund Burke. . .on Moving His Resolutions for Conciliation with the Colonies"
Thomas Jefferson, "A Summary View of the Rigthts of British America"
Samuel Seabury, "The Congress Canvassed"
"The Speeches of his Excellency Governor Hutchinson"

Some of the essays favor freedom from Great Britain; others argue for continuing the relationship with that country.

Overall, the set of essays provides a sense of the "American Mind," divided as it was. Certainly, Americans were not united in the move toward Revolution. There was considerable internal debate. These two volumes do a nice job illustrating that very point.

[David Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good collection of primary source info, getting you into the heads of the people living out the revolutionary times. Although no collection could really encapsulate the breadth of the debate (there were hundreds, if not thousands written), I think LOA mostly got it right with singling out a good representation of the back-and-forth. I like this one a little less than the first, as it actually seems to have more pro-British pieces than American, which seemed a little inappropriate in a series that calls itself Library of America. Particularly towards the end, in the period leading up to the Declaration of Independence, they seemed to have left out the patriot perspective. Not sure why. Regardless, the writings were interesting and showed the perspectives of both, especially the transition from reconciliation with Britain, to sovereignty within the Empire, to full-blown Independence. The increasing difference between perspectives, and the growing intractability, is clear and evident. There are a few well known ones, such as Thomas Paine's Common Sense and Thomas Jefferson's A Summary View of the Rights of British Americans, but it was interesting to read pieces from lesser known figures that history has mostly forgotten. They bring a lot of variety and flavor to the historcial narratives we all know.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second volume that The Library of America published in regards to the pamphlet debates that preceded the American Revolution. These debates (becoming more heated as time went on) shows the deteriorating relation between the British Crown and her Colonial ‘subjects’.

The American Revolution is sometimes called America’s first civil war due to the complexity of Patriot and Loyalist viewpoints (sometimes bitterly dividing families) that are indicated in these pamphlets (the opinionated news channels of their time). These two LOA volumes successfully offer opposing pamphlets to be read next to one another in order to see both sides of the argument.

Overall, a very enlightening examination for those interested in the foundation of the struggle for American Independence.

[Zachary Hadsell]

The pamphlets in the second half of this series are far more radical and incendiary than the first half; and more enjoyable to read. Thomas Jefferson’s claim that the king was merely an administrator whose only duty was to uphold the laws that he was bound to by Parliament must have been a particularly shocking notion for its time.

There is one particularly funny exchange between a patriot and a British officer in which the patriot taunts the British armed forces and claims that they not as tough as one might think; and that they would soon collapse while trying to oppress an entire continent. The British officer offers his own reply and assures the patriot that they are, in fact, a very formidable force. Its hilarious that this officer thought that writing this would somehow intimidate the Americans into abandoning their resolve.

As the resistance heated up in 1774, the pamphlets written by British loyalists pleaded with the Revolutionists to think through their actions and stop the provocations before it was too late. While I am a firm supporter of the American cause, there was one very salient point that Thomas Bradbury Chandler, a British loyalist, made in 1774. The Sons of Liberty had proclaimed a boycott on British goods and intimidated (and ostensibly forced) Americans into going along with the boycott, even to their own detriment. Chandler questioned how this intimidation was congruent with the very ideals of liberty. Would Americans cast off British rule only to fall under a more oppressive despotism under an illegitimate Continental Congress? It’s a fair question, especially considering that nobody knew where a war against the world’s premiere super power would go, let alone what a new government would look like after an unlikely victory. The fact that Americans managed to construct a loosely based confederation and later a constitutional republic while avoiding a despotic tyranny is nothing short of a miracle. It speaks to the virtuous and educated culture of the time and their well-placed trust in a man of character like that of George Washington. Even King George himself marveled upon Washington’s resignation from his command that he was “the greatest man in the world.”