Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
Beyond the Book
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1 The Roots of Revolution
Chapter 1 A Revolutionary Story
Setting the Stage
Progressing with Pilgrims — and for profit
Fighting the natives and the home folks
Growing up fast
Divorcing the Mother Country
Warming up for war
Declaring independence
Winning a war, the hard way
Making it a global affair
Fighting among ourselves
War’s Over — Now Comes the Hard Part
Sorting out the Founding Fathers
Drafting new rules — and selling them
Getting Government Off the Ground
Picking fights over presidents and parties
Sorting out the Revolution’s results
For further reading. . . .
The Good Stuff at the Back of the Book
Chapter 2 Here Comes Europe
Shaking Up the Old World
Trading economies
Rocking religion
Consolidating secular power
Scoping Out the New World
Following Columbus
Dividing things up
Freezing and furring with the French
Staying home with the English
Settling In
Enslave and extract
Finding few Frenchmen in New France
Getting rich — and rid of the riff-raff
Chapter 3 “In God We Trust”
Colonizing for God and Profit — But Not in That Order
Stumbling into Jamestown
The name’s Smith. John Smith.
The Starving Time
Smoking up an economy
Setting up slavery
Welcoming brides-to-be
Assembling in an Assembly
Purifying and Separating
Plowing into Plymouth
“A Civil Body Politick”
Leaving their mark
“Like a City Upon a Hill”: The Puritans
Setting up shop around Boston Harbor
Growing pains
Slipping away from the church
Dissidents, Catholics, and Quakers
Running to Rhode Island
Leasing Maryland
Quaking in Pennsylvania
Chapter 4 Together and Apart
A Clash of Cultures
The Virginia Wars
Fighting Opechancanough
Stealing hogs leads to battling Bacon
Dividing and Conquering
Wiping out the Pequots
Defriending the Wampanoag
Fighting Philip’s War
Getting Together
Confederating in New England
Bickering into oblivion
Getting news and getting around
Meanwhile, in the Mother Country . . .
Restoring and Rebelling in New England
Cracking down on Massachusetts
The reign of Randolph
The taxing Governor Andros
Revolting with Bacon
Sizing up the Impacts
Chapter 5 The Fight for a Continent
Growing toward Revolution
Pouring in from all over
Coming in chains
Doing Business with Mom
Enforcing trade laws — or not
Doing okay in America
Flexing Political Muscles
Relaxing Religiously
Dangling Bugs and Road-Show Religion
Connecting the Snake
Waging World Wars
King William’s War
Queen Anne’s War
King George’s War
“I Heard the Bullets Whistle . . .”
Setting up a showdown
Getting off to a bad start
Fumbling start, good finish
Assessing the aftermath
Part 2 The Fight for Independence
Chapter 6 Causes and Effects
Warring over the West
Waging biological warfare
Proclaiming the West off-limits
Warm-Up Quarrels
Wrangling over writs
Protesting parsons’ pay
Pouring more fuel on the flames
“The Minds and Hearts of the People”
Cents and Sensitivity
Paying for victory
On the other hand . . .
Sugar, Stamps, and Tea Make Trouble
The Sugar Act
The Stamp Act
The Townshend Acts
Responding to words with troops
Chapter 7 From Rabble to Rebels
Taking It to the Streets
“I was soon on the ground among them”
Tussling over Tea
The bail-out backfires
Dunking the cargo
“Coercive” to You; “Intolerable” to Us
Congressing
Getting to know each other
Getting down to business
“Let It Begin Here”
Squirreling away supplies
Riding with Revere
“The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”
Chapter 8 “We Hold These Truths”
“The Whites of Their Eyes”
Spreading the News — and the Fighting
Taking Ticonderoga and losing Canada
Meanwhile, in the other direction . . .
. . . And back in Boston
Choosing to Fight, Choosing a Fighter
Extending an olive branch
Picking a general
A Royal Paine
The Hated Hiring of Hessians
Cutting the Cord
Drafting a declaration
Winning approval
Trying to Confederate
Chapter 9 Lose Until You Win
Getting into Shape
The raw ingredients
Enter the general
Holding on to the troops
Picking a strategy
“The Fate of Unborn Millions”
Running from their shadows
Bantering over bread
Crossing the Delaware — Twice
Uncapping the pen
Unsheathing the sword
Fighting for Time
“Not only starved, but naked.”
Turning the corner
The War Moves On
Waging an ugly war in the west
Privateering for patriotism and profit
Fighting, southern style
“O God! It Is All Over!”
Chapter 10 The War Abroad
From a Brit’s Eye View
The real reason for rebelling
“Rebellious war?” What rebellious war?
“Farmer George” or “Royal Brute”
Becoming British king by way of Germany
Assembling a war team
Tallying British troubles
Making Friends in France
Funneling French supplies
Finessing France with Franklin
Britain Stands Alone
Seizing opportunity, Spanish-style
Irritating Indians (in India)
Angering other Europeans
The War Goes Global
Wine versus beer
Fighting for smaller prizes
Waiting on the French
Puzzling out Peace
Americans in Paris
Who won?
Chapter 11 The War at Home
Neighbor versus Neighbor
Deciding who was a Tory
Counting Loyalists — and locating them
Ratcheting up the persecution of Tories
A “Situation Truly Deplorable”
Miscounting by the British
Losing and leaving
“Tampering with the Slaves”
Fighting for freedom on the American side
Luring slaves to the Loyalist side
Fleeing to freedom
“Remember the Ladies”
Laboring on the home front
Helping near the battle front
“O, Strange Englishmen Kill Each Other”
Getting pressure from both sides
Absorbing the aftermath
Money and Mutiny
“Not worth a continental”
The suffering at Morristown
Ashamed to be an American
The Newburgh Conspiracy
Why They Fought
Part 3 Now What?
Chapter 12 A Most Imperfect Union
The General Goes Home
Keeping a fighting force ready — sort of
Pitching other proposals
Saying goodbye
Preserving a republic
Hard Money and Morris Notes
Creating a money czar
Stiffing creditors and starting a bank
Hitting an impasse at levying an “impost”
A Toothless Government
Organizing the West
Failing with foreigners
Vexing Vermont
Moving toward a Fix
Setting up Act II
Shays’ Rebellion
Chapter 13 Who Were Those Guys?
Defining the Founding Fathers
Why they bothered
What they accomplished
Kicking the Slavery Issue down the Road
Recognizing slavery as a problem
Taking small anti-slavery steps
Sorting out Signers, Framers, and Founders
A Brief Look at Ten Top Founders
John Adams
Samuel Adams
Benjamin Franklin
Alexander Hamilton
John Jay
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
Thomas Paine
Roger Sherman
George Washington
Chapter 14 “We the People”
Straggling into Philadelphia
Summing up the delegates
Getting down to business
Tackling the Big Three
Creating a New Kind of Congress
Presenting the Virginia Plan
Countering with the New Jersey Plan
A side order of Hamilton
Compromising with Connecticut’s plan
Deciding who runs and who votes
Sidestepping Slavery
Three-fifths of a human
Trading taxes for slave importing
Picking a President
Cleaning up and Signing Off
Preambling the Constitution
Watching the sun rise
Chapter 15 Selling It
Convincing Congress
Waging a War of Words
Convincing the Conventions
Pushing it through Pennsylvania
Picking up some small states
Battling among the Heavyweights
“Mounted on alligators”
Conquering New York
Scooping up the holdouts
Setting up House (and Senate)
Building a Bill of Rights
Heating up the House
Ratifying rights turns out to be easy
Hail to the Chief
Part 4 A Nation’s Baby Steps
Chapter 16 Branching Out
“I Walk on Untrodden Ground”
Taking it slowly
Picking a cabinet
Ordering the Courts
“The weakest branch”
Laying down the law
Marbury v. Madison
Taxes and Logrolling
Stirring up the storm
The “dinner table bargain”
Warring over whiskey
Bickering over banks
Planting partisan seeds
“Daily Pitted . . . Like Two Cocks”
Parting into parties
Choosing up sides
Saying Goodbye — Again
Chapter 17 The Toddler’s Transition
Electing Adams
Lining up the “tickets”
Hamilton schemes behind the scenes
Trying to Avoid Foreign Entanglements
Revolting developments in France
Bickering with Britain
The “XYZ Affair”
Fighting a “quasi-war”
Aliens and Seditionists
Passing a contentious quartet of laws
Wielding “the jawbone of Jefferson”
The Revolution of 1800
“Fixing” New York
“Jefferson is to be preferred”
All Together Now
Chapter 18 Aftermath
So, How Big Was It?
What Kind of Revolution Was It?
Why Did It Work?
What Can You Learn from It?
Chapter 19 Some Books Worth Perusing
Books to Explore
Part 5 The Part of Tens
Chapter 20 (At Least) Ten Things You Didn’t Know about the Founding Fathers
Twinkle-Toes George
Franklin’s “Deadly” Instrument
TJ and the Bears
Tom Paine’s Bones
Sam Adams Really Made Beer (sort of)
The Price on Hancock’s Head
I’ll Trade You Six Hancocks for a Button
Whining — or Wining — about the Flag
A Justice in Jail
The Little Guy on the Big Bill
Chapter 21 Ten Unsung Heroes of the American Revolution
Joseph Plumb Martin
“Molly Pitcher”
James Forten
Daniel Morgan
Roger Sherman
Nancy Hart
Jeremiah O’Brien
Daniel Bissell
Salem Poor
Deborah Sampson
Chapter 22 Ten Quotes from or about the American Revolution
Or Else Just Give Us the Vote Now. . .
And the Choices Are. . .
Sorry to Disappoint You, But. . .
Uh, Are You Sure, Your Majesty?
Take My Advice and Scram
“Except Us. . .”
A Stimulated Simile
Keeping One’s Feet Dry
Looks Good So Far, But. . .
A Term of Endurance
Part 6 Appendixes
Appendix A The Declaration of Independence
Appendix B The Bill of Rights: Amendments 1–10 of the Constitution
Appendix C Key Events of the American Revolution
Index
EULA