Delaware County District Library

The cause, the American Revolution and its discontents, 1773-1783, Joseph J. Ellis

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-355) and index

contains biographical information

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

The cause

bibliography

Joseph J. Ellis

the American Revolution and its discontents, 1773-1783

This book rethinks the American Revolution as we have known it. George Washington claimed that anyone who attempted to provide an accurate account of the war for independence would be accused of writing fiction. At the time, no one called it the "American Revolution": former colonists still regarded themselves as Virginians or Pennsylvanians, not Americans, while John Adams insisted that the British were the real revolutionaries, for attempting to impose radical change without their colonists' consent. Ellis takes a fresh look at the events between 1773 and 1783, recovering a war more brutal than any in American history save the Civil War and discovering a strange breed of "prudent" revolutionaries, whose prudence proved wise yet tragic when it came to slavery, the original sin that still haunts our land

Part I: Origins and arguments, 1773-1776 -- The Rubicon -- Prudence dictates -- Part II: Arms and men, 1776-1780 -- The escape -- The few -- Part III: Triumphs and tragedies, 1780-1783 -- The protraction -- The Chesapeake -- The exit

adult

American Revolution and its discontents, 1773-1783