num_pages: 231
description: In this provocative reinterpretation of one of the best-known events in American history, Woody Holton shows that when Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and other elite Virginians joined their peers from other colonies in declaring independence from Britain, they acted partly in response to grassroots rebellions against their own rule.The Virginia gentry's efforts to shape London's imperial policy were thwarted by British merchants and by a coalition of Indian nations. In 1774, elite Virginians suspended trade with Britain in order to pressure Parliament and, at the same time, to save restive Virginia debtors from a terrible recession. The boycott and the growing imperial conflict led to rebellions by enslaved Virginians, Indians, and tobacco farmers. By the spring of 1776 the gentry believed the only way to regain control of the common people was to take Virginia out of the British Empire.Forced Founders uses the new social history to shed light on a classic political why did the owners of vast plantations, viewed by many of their contemporaries as aristocrats, start a revolution? As Holton's fast-paced narrative unfolds, the old story of patriot versus loyalist becomes decidedly more complex.
language: English
title: Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia
titlecomplete: Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia (Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early ... and the University of North Carolina Press)
genres: Historical, American Revolutionary War, Native Americans, History, School, American History, American Revolution, Race, Politics, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 492
places: Virginia Colony, North America
awards: awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Merle Curti Award, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award
publisher: Omohundro Institute and University of North Carolina Press