bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Appearance and Society
Authors: Frith Hannah
Published: December 2012

This article explores a number of examples of how appearance and the reading about it operate to produce class-based divisions and the different emotional registers which are used to do so. First it examines how the brief description of a woman called Teresa Bystram's appearance in Britain's largest circulation daily tabloid newspaper, The Sun positions her as a ‘chav’ — a figure which circulates through popular cultural representations and has become a pervasive term of abuse for the white poor, evoking mockery and disgust. Second, it examines how mockery, disgust, and humiliation are the emotional registers through which makeover television shows engage in symbolic violence against the working classes, before moving on to consider the implications of makeover shows which adopt a different emotional register.
Embodiment and Appearance
Authors: MacLachlan Malcolm , Ni Mháille Grainne , Gallagher Pamela , Desmond Deirdre M.
Published: December 2012

This article introduces embodiment in relation to the psychology of appearance. It describes the concept of embodiment, its philosophical foundations, and psychological significance. While appearance is often about an ‘outer-image’, embodiment is concerned with how people sense themselves, both outwardly and inwardly — the experience of how one's body is perceived and, at the same time of being a perceiver, through one's own body. The article illustrates the application of an embodiment perspective by focusing on people with physical disability, particularly people with limb amputations and the use of prosthetic technology. The article concludes by presenting a framework for thinking about embodiment and appearance.
Challenges in Healthcare Provision in the United States
Authors: Lemaine Valerie , Pusic Andrea
Published: December 2012

This article reviews the current status of healthcare provision in the US with regards to reconstructive surgery affecting physical appearance and suggests future directions for outcomes research and patient advocacy. It discusses surgery for children born with congenital anomalies, breast surgery, body contouring surgery, and the provision of psychosocial services in the United States.
Setting The Scene: Summary and Synthesis
Authors: Harcourt Diana , Rumsey Nichola
Published: December 2012

This article provides a summary and synthesis of Section I of this book. It considers the emerging themes from this section, including the influences on changing societal and cultural norms over time, the importance of people's subjective perceptions and experiences of their appearance, the influence of gatekeepers to care, and the implications that the myriad of factors influencing appearance concerns have for theory in this field.
Appearance in Adulthood
Authors: Tiggemann Marika , Slevec Julie
Published: December 2012

This article reviews the findings from empirical research with adults older than the typical university student. Two major research questions are addressed. First, are there age changes in appearance concern across adulthood? Second, what factors are associated with appearance concern in adulthood? Dissatisfaction with appearance and associated dieting and disordered eating behaviours remain at high levels in women across adulthood. For men, the picture is less clear because there are fewer studies with less appropriate measures. Nevertheless, it does appear that adult men also experience body dissatisfaction. As women (and perhaps men) age, however, they place less emphasis on the importance of physical appearance; it no longer plays such a central role in who they are. This allows a greater acceptance of the age-related changes in appearance that take them ever further from the thin and youthful ideal.
Gender
Authors: Fawkner Helen J.
Published: December 2012

This article examines who is affected by appearance related concerns (i.e., rates of dissatisfaction as a function of gender); the ways in which men and women are affected (e.g., differences in the sources of, antecedents to, and adjustive strategies as a consequence of dissatisfaction); and why men and women may experience dissatisfaction relating to their appearance. The research to date suggests that more women than men experience body dissatisfaction, though a significant proportion of both genders are dissatisfied. Both men and women commonly report dissatisfaction with body aspects that correspond with their respective gender-based ideals. Interestingly however, both genders often misperceive what is attractive to the opposite sex.
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Sexualities: Appearance and Body Image
Authors: Huxley Caroline , Hayfield Nikki
Published: December 2012

This article discusses lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people's appearance and body image. First, it describes LGB appearance norms and their functions. Second, it discusses research comparing the body satisfaction of different groups, and possible protective or harmful influences.
Influence of Peers
Authors: Ricciardelli Lina A. , Mellor David
Published: December 2012

This article examines the multiple, complex role of friends and peers (including peer pressure, teasing, social comparison, and cultural differences and influences). It begins by examining how peers exert their direct influence via negative comments such as teasing, encouragement, modelling, discussions, peer networks, and social comparisons. It then examines the associations between peer relationships and appearance/body image concerns. The role of friends is specifically examined. Friends can provide social support and intimacy; they may help children and adolescents to cope with insecurities, and serve as a buffer against emotional difficulties. The article also considers how the influence of peers and friends may vary according to gender, age, and cultural group.
Adult Psychosocial Adjustment to Visible Differences: Physical and Psychological Predictors of Variation
Authors: Moss Timothy P. , Rosser Ben
Published: December 2012

This article gives an overview of some of the candidate theories put forward to explain individual differences in adjustment to appearance problems. It first considers the most intuitive explanations — physical severity, and the location of the difference. It goes on to explore how coping processes play a role in adjustment, highlighting the focus in this area on negative outcomes rather than positive adjustment. The second part of the article focuses on some key cognitive underpinnings to adjustment, in relation to the self, attention, interpretation of ambiguity, and memory.
Appearance and Exercise
Authors: Byron-Daniel James
Published: December 2012

This article examines the relationship between body image and exercise, as an example of the consequences that appearance concerns can have on lifestyle and health behaviours. Research into the effects of physical activity on psychological states has almost universally found improvements in anxiety, depression, and negative affect, and given its beneficial impact on physical health, motivating people to increase their levels of physical activity is a major focus within public health. First, the article considers the relationship between exercise and body dissatisfaction. It then explores how appearance can act as a motivator or a barrier to exercise, before considering the use of physical activity as an intervention to boost body satisfaction. Next, it examines the relevance of the environment in which exercise takes place, and highlights areas for further research.
Congenital Conditions
Authors: Billaud Feragen Kristin
Published: December 2012

This article explores the particular issues of those faced with a congenital condition that affects one or more aspects of physical appearance. It uses the examples of cleft lip and/or palate and neurofibromatosis. It highlights the need to counter the tendency to pathologize the experiences of children and young people through a focus on problems and difficulties, and instead to adopt a more normalizing, developmental perspective in understanding their worlds. It discusses positive aspects and protective factors as well as challenges, and considers the need for appropriate psychosocial interventions for those experiencing difficulties.
Trauma—With Special Reference to Burn Injury
Authors: Wisely Julie , Gaskell Sarah
Published: December 2012

This article examines the experience of those whose appearance is changed as the result of a traumatic event. It focuses particularly on burn injuries. It discusses the psychological and social impact of burn injury, impact on body image and self-esteem, impact on social interactions and relationships, and influences on post-burn recovery and outcome. It highlights the particular challenges that are presented when a person leaves the confines of a hospital environment and starts to reintegrate into community and society.
Who is Affected by Appearance Concerns, in What Way, and Why?: Summary and Synthesis
Authors: Rumsey Nichola , Harcourt Diana
Published: December 2012

This article presents a summary and synthesis of Section II of this book. The section examined the nature of appearance concerns across the lifespan, explored a variety of factors that influence adjustment and levels of distress, and considered some of the consequences of appearance-related concerns, including the particular challenges facing people living with an appearance that is in any way different to the norm. It raised many issues, including the importance of appearance for both males and females of all ages, the role of individual differences, psychological processes, and the influence of physical, social, and cultural environments.
Using Retrospective Approaches in the Study of Disfigurement
Authors: Persson Martin
Published: December 2012

Conducting research in the field of appearance psychology presents many challenges to researchers, including the large range of conditions resulting in physical differences and in many instances the relatively small numbers of people with each variant of each condition, who are often geographically dispersed and who may or may not be actively engaged with treatment. Many researchers have highlighted a need for larger sample sizes and more representative research. This article offers a response to these calls, and uses a population-based study in Sweden to show how very large-scale datasets can identify areas for further research and address questions that would otherwise be difficult and costly to investigate.
Mixed Methods: the Best of Both Worlds?
Authors: Dures Emma
Published: December 2012

Mixed methods research designs have become increasing popular in the field of health sciences, including the psychology of appearance. While proponents claim the approach offers flexibility and the ‘best of both worlds’, detractors are concerned that such research is undertaken without sufficient understanding or recognition of the underlying philosophies associated with different methodological traditions and that the quality of the research is compromised as a result. This article sets out key arguments in support of mixed methods and shows how the approach is often well suited to the multidimensionality and complexity of appearance-related research.
Methodological Choices: Online Research
Authors: Coulson Neil S.
Published: December 2012

The Internet has many potential applications within the appearance-related domain. For example, it may be used as a means for therapeutic intervention, to set up and manage patient support groups, promote training and education, as well as facilitating appearance-related research. This article considers common methodological choices and issues which may arise when undertaking online appearance-related research.
Promoting Participation and Involvement in Appearance Research
Authors: Bates Amanda
Published: December 2012

This article considers participation in appearance research on a continuum, from the beginning of a research idea, through to the dissemination of results. It considers the opportunities and challenges in participation and public involvement in appearance research, and offers strategies for involving the public throughout the research process. It describes the author's personal experiences of participation and involvement in appearance research. As a starting point, it considers how to encourage public engagement and interest in appearance research at a general level, which may in turn foster participation and involvement in specific research initiatives.
Introduction
Authors: Burwick Frederick
Published: December 2012

This introductory article explains the coverage of this book, which is about the works of the English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This book provides biographical information about Coleridge, including his early years at Jesus College Cambridge and his later collaboration with William Wordsworth, and presents critical analysis of some of his most notable prose and poetic works. It examines sources and influences on Coleridge's writings and describes his literary influence throughout the world following his death.
Coleridge as Editor: TheWatchmanand theFriend
Authors: Kooy Michael John
Published: December 2012

This article examines the career of Samuel Taylor Coleridge as editor of The Watchman and The Friend. It suggests that although these journals were produced in very different political circumstances by a man whose own political views had also changed profoundly, they both arose out of, and sought to address, the feeling of disenchantment with politics by appealing to fixed principles. These journals injected high moral purpose, historical perspective, and philosophical reflection into political debate in order to give strength to those whose millenarian hopes had not been realized.
Coleridge'sLectures 1808–1819: on Literature
Authors: Scott Matthew
Published: December 2012

This article examines Samuel Taylor Coleridge's lectures on literature during the period from 1808 to 1819. It provides an account of Coleridge as a lecturer in the context of his audience and discusses the reception of his lectures. The article describes the circumstances of his literary lectures and comments on the value of his lectures on the works of William Shakespeare and John Milton. It also considers his significant borrowings and the legacy of his lectures on the history of literary criticism.
Coleridge on Politics and Religion: The Statesman's Manual, Aids to Reflection, on the Constitution of Church and State
Authors: Edwards Pamela
Published: December 2012

This article examines Samuel Taylor Coleridge's views on politics and religion. It argues that Coleridge, from his earliest writings on politics and religion, had grounded his accounts of government and civil society in philosophical and theological understandings of truth. The article analyses three works that are key to understanding Coleridge's political and religious thought. These are The Statesman's Manual, Aids to Reflection, and On the Constitution of Church and State According to the Idea of Each.
Coleridge'sNotebooks
Authors: Cheshire Paul
Published: December 2012

This article examines the notebook writings of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It explains that writings which could be classed as notebook material appear under other headings because Coleridge wrote them in the margins of books (marginalia) or on unbound sheets of paper. The article describes the contents, development, and structure of Coleridge's notebook writings. It suggests that the first user of the notebook was Coleridge himself because he considered them as his sole confidant, where he could write down the feelings he felt unable to share with others.
Coleridge as Thinker: Logic and Opus Maximum
Authors: Evans Murray J.
Published: December 2012

This article describes Samuel Taylor Coleridge as a thinker based on his Logic and Opus Maximum. It argues that while these works failed to attract much readership and scholarship, they reveal Coleridge the thinker in uniquely rich ways, with insights which surprise and reorient our current knowledge on both Coleridge and also a number of perennial issues for Coleridge and Romantics scholarship. The article provides contextual comments on each text.
Coleridge as Playwright
Authors: Erving George
Published: December 2012

This article examines the career of Samuel Taylor Coleridge as a playwright. It suggests that Coleridge's influence as a dramatic critic has overshadowed his reputation as a playwright. Coleridge completed a total of four plays from 1794 to 1817. These include The Fall of Robespierre, an Historic Drama, Osorio, A Tragedy, Remorse, A Tragedy, and Zapolya: A Christmas Tale. The article discusses the plot and storyline of these works.
Coleridge and Plagiarism
Authors: Keanie Andrew
Published: December 2012

This article examines the issues of plagiarism in the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It explains that the sources of Coleridge's writings have long fascinated critics. Coleridge's kindest critics have disentangled the components of his eclectically derivative corpus and compulsively devious practice, while his unkindest critic, Norman Fruman, has reacted against the canonical sentimentality that has transmogrified the real Coleridge into the ‘Da Vinci’ of literature. The article suggests that Coleridge crossed a qualitative line, that intangible border which separates plagiarists from the other writers who have their secrets, but who seem to lack the tendency towards dependency.
Coleridge and Shakespeare
Authors: Mahoney Charles
Published: December 2012

This article examines the role of Samuel Taylor Coleridge as a critic of William Shakespeare. It discusses the loss of Coleridge's notebook for the Lectures on the Principles of Poetry, which made it difficult to accurately assess his criticism on Shakespeare. The article suggests that the innovations of Coleridge's criticism came out of the depths of his own mind and years of thinking on the principles of poetry, while his close reading of Shakespeare provided him with the necessary figures, accidents, and minutiae to substantiate his claims.
Coleridge's Early Biographers
Authors: Paley Morton D.
Published: December 2012

This article examines the works of the early biographers of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Some of the notable early biographies of Coleridge include Thomas De Quincey's Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Joseph Cottle's Early Recollections Chiefly Relating to the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and James Gillman's The Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The article compares the contents of the biographies and the authors' perceptions of Coleridge.
Coleridge's Reception on the Continent
Authors: Shaffer Elinor
Published: December 2012

This article examines the literary influence of Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Europe. It explains that Coleridge's reputation outside England has been largely ignored for quite special reasons. The first reason is that Coleridge's oeuvre in English has only very recently been established through the long labours on the richly annotated Collected Coleridge, the Letters, and the Notebooks. Another reason is that Coleridge's relations with Europe have unusually been viewed through the other end of the lens: his own borrowings from European thinkers.
Writing About Coleridge
Authors: Maniquis Robert M.
Published: December 2012

This article discusses issues relevant to critical writing about the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It suggests that critical analysis of Coleridge's works is problematic because his poems bristle with interpretive puzzles and his prose has provided a problematic base for modern interpretation itself. The article argues that Coleridge wrote the most obscure yet the most influential critical paragraph in English literature.
Introduction
Authors: Croson Rachel , Bolton Gary E.
Published: December 2012

This book describes communication in bargaining. It also presents different perspectives on how bargainers communicate and document the impact of these different communication channels. It also discusses the social influences on bargaining outcomes and processes. The various ways in which others' outcomes affect the negotiations are elaborated. In addition, trust and its influence on bargaining are reported. It determines conditions under which trust is extended and upheld. Furthermore, it looks at bounded rationality and its impact on bargaining. The limitations on individual reasoning and how those limitations impact negotiated outcomes and processes are examined. Moreover, the individual differences in bargaining behavior and outcomes are assessed. The dimensions in which individuals differ and how those differences affect their performance are then evaluated. Finally, the article provides insight into new methodologies and new directions for future research.
Intermediation and Diffusion of Responsibility in Negotiation
Authors: Paharia Neeru , Coffman Lucas C. , Bazerman Max H.
Published: December 2012

This article compares direct deception with deception via an intermediary in the bargaining context. It describes a growing experimental literature that suggests how perceived ethics surrounding transactions with multiple partners can encourage misbehavior. It is noted that causing harm indirectly through another can protect harm doers. Harm doers are apparently protected from punishment as well. The hypothesis that intermediation reduces punishment runs counter to predictions coming from a model in which solely unfair actions are punished. Experiments are also presented that show a phenomenon about the attribution of responsibility and subsequent blame (and praise) in negotiation and conflict resolution settings. It is believed that by making people more aware of their failure to notice and punish indirect unethical behavior, others can create a world where the use of intermediation will no longer provide harm doers an easy escape from public awareness.
Deception in Negotiations
Authors: Gino Francesca , Shea Catherine
Published: December 2012

This article presents insight into the link between deception and emotions, identifying the role of emotions in the intention to deceive in a negotiation. Negative emotions have commonly been found to increase deception and positive emotions have commonly been found to reduce it. It also outlines two potentially fruitful venues for future research: the study of the mechanisms linking emotions to deception in negotiation and the study of specific categories of emotions that may have counterintuitive effects on negotiators' use of deception at the bargaining table. The two facets of pride, namely authentic and hubris pride, offer an opportunity for future research to investigate the counterintuitive effect of positive emotions on deception in negotiations. It is proposed that guilt decreases a negotiator's willingness to use deception by increasing her likelihood of taking her counterpart's perspective.
Models of Coalition Formation in Multilateral Negotiations
Authors: Bandyopadhyay Siddhartha , Chatterjee Kalyan
Published: December 2012

This article discusses the models of multiparty bargaining and determines the impact of who speaks to whom and when on bargaining outcomes. It also describes some recent models of coalition formation, identifying the predictions they generate (and how they could be tested in future empirical work), highlighting their assumptions (and how they could be relaxed in future theoretical work). There are incentives for parties to form coalitions before an election to prevent a minority group from winning. Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay, Kalyan Chatterjee, and Sjostrom identified a number of variables that affect pre-electoral coalition formation. Models of coalition bargaining have the potential to give testable predictions in multilateral bargaining settings and to help better understand a variety of real-world bargaining settings.
Connectivity and Cooperation
Authors: Buchan Nancy R. , Fatas Enrique , Grimalda Gianluca
Published: December 2012

This article determines the influence of social connectivity on cooperation at the local and global levels. Connectivity greatly increases prospects of cooperation. Cooperation is an important part of negotiation. It is noted that understanding cooperation and its causes is vital for explaining and predicting a variety of negotiation issues and behavior such as the number of people involved, the level of information exchange, fairness, and partner selection. Connectivity in social networks appears to play a critical role in explaining cooperation. Cooperation was shown to be high and varied significantly across countries. The analysis reveals a positive effect of trust on cooperation. Connectivity is a key aspect for agents to reap the full benefits of negotiation. The effect of global identity strongly decreases that of the individual globalization index (IGI), thus supporting the idea that global identity mediates the effect of global connectivity on cooperation.
Contracting
Authors: Grosskopf Brit
Published: December 2012

This article investigates the relationship between formal contracts and trust. The results from Grosskopf and Roth (2009) reveal that experimental investigations of contract design ideally need to be conducted in varying negotiation environments with ample opportunities for learning. The standard approach to the enforcement of contracts derives incentive compatibility constraints under the assumption of fully rational and selfish individuals. In Fehr, Klein, and Schmidt (2007), and Fehr, Kirchsteiger, and Gaechter (1997), firms were restricted to use either a bonus contract or an incentive contract that incorporated a fine that was enforced by a third party. Theory and experiments are complements in evaluating contract design to each other and to the sparse information from the field. Together, they look inside the legal terms of a contract, examine the interplay of its incentives with fairness considerations, and evaluate its effects on the parties.
Bargaining and Negotiations
Authors: Güth Werner
Published: December 2012

This article argues for the need for improved models of cognitive limitations of bargainers in order to explain and predict outcomes. It became clear early that when designing institutions of bargaining and negotiation there will be two directions, namely one based on the assumption of rationality and one based on empirical findings. Teaching and learning bargaining behavior and better negotiation techniques requires a reliance on mental models and such concepts as success aspirations and satisficing in search. Some new and innovative experimental paradigms are suggested, such as employing bribery games when exploring the behavior of public administrators or inspector games when investigating monitoring in firms and other organizations. The present boom of experimental economics might show a bubble that can collapse when overly optimistic expectations concerning how much can be learned within a short time are not fulfilled.
Bluffing, Agonism, and the role of Overconfidence in Negotiation
Authors: Swift Samuel A. , Moore Don
Published: December 2012

This article investigates the impact of overconfidence on bargaining behavior, especially bluffing, and determines the conditions under which overconfident negotiators are advantaged or disadvantaged. Example of conflict resolution in the animal world is presented as an illuminating parallel to the decisions human negotiators make in pursuing the scarce resources they desire. Despite the problems produced by overconfidence in negotiation, it is possible that there are benefits of sufficient magnitude to offset the costs. A positive relationship between aspirations and outcomes is clearly noted. The formidable challenge to negotiators is to balance the advantages of confident behaviors with the liabilities of overconfident beliefs. The evidence of the benefits of overconfidence indicates that the behaviors associated with overconfidence, such as brazen requests and persistence, positively affect outcomes assuming that an agreement is reached.
Heterogeneity in Ultimatum Bargaining
Authors: de Oliveira Angela C. M. , Eckel Catherine C.
Published: December 2012

This article addresses the personality differences that enable help in predicting negotiated outcomes. It specifically describes the recent advances in ultimatum game (UG) results on three fronts: the effects of the information available to proposers and responders, the stable characteristics of each, and the state of mind they are in when making their decisions. Behavior can differ greatly by society but the distinctions actually depend on a much finer scale than the broad regional differences. It is found that individuals who are less likely to view a low offer as a threat have lower minimum acceptable offers. It is vital for negotiators to know the norms of the context in which they are bargaining to achieve the best possible outcomes. Rejections tend to occur when people are more likely to be offended by low offers or when it is an affront to their sense of self.
Explaining and Predicting Cultural Differences in Negotiation
Authors: Gelfand Michele J. , Severance Laura , Fulmer C. Ashley , Al-Dabbagh May
Published: December 2012

This article reviews the current thinking about cultural differences in bargaining behavior and outcomes. It also considers the future directions needed in this area. It specifically describes the nature of how unique Americans might be in the domain of negotiation as compared to other samples. There is a clear link between the expectation of competition and self-interest and Americans' own strategies. Negotiation data from American samples generally shows an Individuals Asserting and Maximizing Self-Interest strategy (IAMS) that is rational in the particular ecological niche of these samples. Judgment biases in negotiation should reflect different strategies that negotiators have internalized as adaptations to particular ecological niches. It is shown that cultural differences in negotiation can be seen as ecologically rational default negotiation strategies that are adaptive in particular social niches and that can change dynamically depending on the context.
Upstream and Downstream Negotiation Research
Authors: Thompson Leigh , Lucas Brian , Hall Erika
Published: December 2012

This article argues for expanding the research focus in the field of bargaining and negotiation. It discusses three different research vantage points in negotiation, which are referred to as upstream, midstream, and downstream research. It also reviews six areas of potentially fruitful upstream research: negotiability, negotiation threshold, preparation competency, choosing a team, networks, and reputation. It is argued that the realization that negotiation is an option, the decision to negotiate, preparation, and reputational concerns constitute meaningful effects in the study of negotiation. Moreover, it reviews four downstream areas: commitment, learning and insight, rebound/recovery, and collateral damage. By expanding the research focus to upstream and downstream research, the possibility of new research vistas is offered. Extending research on the upstream and downstream of negotiations will also strengthen the understanding of not only how negotiators operate but whether and when, and will highlight potentially unanticipated consequences of negotiation that were previously unexplored.
Political Protest and the World of Goods
Authors: Ulrich Laurel Thatcher
Published: December 2012

This chapter examines the relationship between the political protests that led to the American Revolution and the commercial expansion which stimulated the production and marketing of goods. It begins with a brief survey of the history and historiography of the period 1763–1774, focusing on the relationship between events and transformations. In particular, the chapter discusses the Stamp Act of 1765 and the rise of tea drinking in North America. The 1763 Treaty of Paris ended a long war between Britain and France over control of North America. Although the British won the war, they had to deal with a huge wartime debt. The government looked to North America for a solution, triggering a decade-long conflict over taxes. The chapter also considers the Tea Act of 1773, the Boston Tea Party, and the political power of goods. Finally, it looks at the importation, marketing, and production of goods in colonial British America.
The Struggle Within: Colonial Politics on the Eve of Independence
Authors: McDonnell Michael A.
Published: December 2012

In a book first printed in 1775, a young Englishman named Andrew Burnaby argued that the British colonies were too divided to act independently of Britain. His views were confirmed by historians of colonial America; the economies, politics, and societies of the colonies were shaped by differing origins, separate histories, diverse climates and topographies. This internal division was exemplified by the stark separation between social elites and their various dependents—women, children, tenants, servants, slaves, wage laborers, and others. The search for Revolutionary consensus has often obscured persistent, perhaps even heightened, division on the eve of the American Revolution. This chapter examines colonial politics on the eve of American independence. It discusses the end of the British colonial government during the period 1774–1775, the onset of conflict in 1775–1776, and the emergence of a new American nation divided against itself.
The Democratic Moment: The Revolution and Popular Politics
Authors: Raphael Ray
Published: December 2012

Direct democracy was practiced within town meetings in colonial New England, driven by four overarching principles. First, citizens had a political voice as members of a specific geographic community, rather than as individuals. Second, “the mind of the town,” as it was called at the time, could be readily determined through public discourse in meetings of the enfranchised citizenry. Third, this collective will could be relayed to higher governing bodies by issuing specific and binding instructions to elected representatives. Finally, citizens who opposed the mind of the town could be forced to abide by it through community pressure. While the American Revolution elicited its own examples of popular, democratic politics outside of official chambers, the overall trend was in the opposite direction. Formal representational structures generally superseded meetings of the body of the people by liberty trees and liberty polls, county conventions of committees of correspondence, and local committees of safety, inspection, and observation.
Independence before and during the Revolution
Authors: Irvin Benjamin H.
Published: December 2012

Historians of the American Revolution have long argued that American colonists were late and reluctant to sever ties with Britain. They characterized American independence as a natural and unavoidable consequence of the original settlers' unique sense of godly duty and a logical result of republican institutions long in the making, a vision of America's founding that passed largely unchallenged by the nation's nineteenth-century historians. During the twentieth century, this narrative of predestination was challenged by academic historians, who questioned its nationalistic and teleological qualities, and who instead viewed independence as one possible consequence of events that unfolded in the 1760s and 1770s. This chapter discusses American independence before and during the Revolution, the process of dismantling long-established colonial governments throughout the thirteen colonies, the drafting of new constitutions, the forging of confederation, and the establishment of foreign relations during the period of American independence.
The Continental Army
Authors: Cox Caroline
Published: December 2012

During the American Revolution, tens of thousands of men served in the Continental army to fight Britain and became skilled professionals in the process. These soldiers formed deep bonds with each other, not only by fighting the enemy but also by living together, caring for each other when sick, burying their friends and enemies, tolerating their weak officers, celebrating their talented ones, foraging for food, and otherwise coping with all the hardships of army life. Created by the Continental Congress in June 1775, the Continental army fought the British until the war's end in 1783. Poor men made up the core of Continental servicemen. Officers and soldiers received very different pay. By the end of 1776, the Continental army was also dissolved. Both formal and informal punishment was consistent throughout the army. Militiamen did not receive corporal punishment, as sentenced by courts-martial or done informally by angry officers.
The British Army and the War of Independence
Authors: Conway Stephen
Published: December 2012

During the American Revolution, Britain relied primarily on its army to subdue the rebellious colonies. At its peak, the British army in North America had approximately 50,000 officers and men, constituting the largest expeditionary force sent overseas by any British governments. After nearly seven years of fighting, however, the British Parliament realized that military operations in the colonies would not crush the rebellion. The American Revolution has been linked to various myths, three of which relate to the British army and its role in the War of Independence. One myth is that the weaknesses of character and approach of the British army account for its loss in the war that it should have won. This chapter challenges the myths of the War of Independence and offers a different explanation for the failure of the British army to quash the American revolt.
The War in the Cities
Authors: Peterson Mark A.
Published: December 2012

One aspect of the American Revolution is “the war in the cities.” Scholars on urban life and the American Revolution have traditionally focused on the five largest urban centers in the British colonies that became part of the new United States: New York, Boston, Charleston, Philadelphia, and Newport. Others have challenged this notion, arguing that less-prominent cities and towns also played a key role in bringing about the war. Some studies include even-smaller towns within the “thirteen colonies,” such as Salem (Massachusetts), Annapolis (Maryland), or Savannah (Georgia). Two other cities that were a part of the war were Quebec and Halifax in Canada. However, the United States did not develop a city like Quebec, Halifax, or Portsmouth as a result of the Revolution.
The African Americans’ Revolution
Authors: Nash Gary B.
Published: December 2012

The American Revolution played an important role in African Americans' quest for freedom. It marked the first mass rebellion by slaves in American history, gave rise to the first civil rights movement, and resulted in the first large-scale constructions of free black life. African slaves in North America knew that their natural rights were violated by their enslavement, although a confluence of events heightened their restiveness and provided them with the ideology-laden phrases that they could deploy in their struggle to secure their liberty whenever and wherever possible. The Revolution offered slaves a chance to realize this dream. African American revolutionaries saw the war as a way to quench their thirst for freedom, to end corrupt power, and to die for their natural rights.
Loyalism
Authors: Larkin Edward
Published: December 2012

Loyalism was a dominant theme of the American Revolution. Most loyalists were ordinary Americans who wished to remain connected to the British Empire. Over the past 200 years, the numbers of loyalists have been estimated from roughly 20 percent of the population of the colonies up to 33 percent. The exact number of loyalists could not be determined either because many loyalists hid their political allegiances, or their allegiances were too shifting and mutable to count. What is clear is that many loyalists chose to remain in the newly independent United States and weather the conflict. A nationalist narrative of the American Revolution has successfully alienated and excluded loyalists, but it was later displaced by a global narrative of empire and circumatlantic cultural and economic flows. This new circumatlantic perspective led to the dissociation of the geographic space of British North America with a particular identity. In terms of political ideals, loyalists seem to be no different to patriots, with both camps claiming the inheritance of the rights of Englishmen and British political thought.
The Revolutionary War and Europe’s Great Powers
Authors: Mapp Paul W.
Published: December 2012

Two decades after the Seven Years' War, two European monarchical empires, France and Spain, reluctantly but substantially assisted the republican independence of thirteen European colonies. By aiding the United States, France and Spain encountered just the kinds of perils they hoped to avoid. Britain was led by George III, Spain by Charles III, and France by Louis XV; all three kings reigned over American possessions. From a diplomatic point of view, the United States, France, and Spain at least had each other. In contrast, Britain fought for America and empire from 1775 to 1783 without a major European ally. In the early stages of the American Revolution, while France and Spain were providing at least limited and secret aid to the American states, Britain was obtaining only the help it could pay for.
Funding the Revolution: Monetary and Fiscal Policy in Eighteenth-Century America
Authors: Mihm Stephen
Published: December 2012

The success of the Federalists in the late 1780s had a profound influence on how Americans viewed the relationship between military spending, taxation, and the monetary system. For almost 100 years, the colonists funded military campaigns by means of paper money rather than direct taxes, an approach that helped finance several imperial wars and the American Revolution. By the late 1780s, however, many Federalists realized that paper money alone could not solve America's financial woes, much less pay for its defense. Although the entire era of the American Revolution was characterized by struggles over taxes and money, little attention has been paid to the financial history of the period. This chapter examines domestic fiscal and monetary policy during the American Revolution, starting with the colonists' use of paper money in the late seventeenth century in lieu of taxes. To understand the evolution of monetary and fiscal policy in this period, it considers the genuine radicalism—and ultimately, conservatism—of the American Revolution.
The Trials of the Confederation
Authors: Bouton Terry
Published: December 2012

When delegates met at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1787, they all agreed that democracy was ruining America, and believed that the nation needed a new federal government with the power to override the states and form “a stronger barrier against democracy.” For two centuries, those arguments have formed the dominant interpretation of the Confederation period. Historians argued that democracy in the states had produced the era's problems and viewed the Constitution as the only real solution. This chapter examines just what America's founders perceived democracy to be. It shows that many of the period's problems had little to do with the democratic form of government, claiming instead that the real culprit was fighting a long and expensive war with few financial resources. Unlike Britain or any of the other great powers, the United States had little hard currency reserves because the British had designed trade and taxation to insure the flow of specie into the empire and away from the colonies.
Rights
Authors: Slauter Eric
Published: December 2012

The American Revolution took place during the latter part of a century of development in thinking about rights. Between the English Revolution of 1688–1689 and the French Revolution of 1789, ideas about rights expanded around the Atlantic world, and discussions of rights in America widened to include larger segments of the colonial and early national population. The central political philosophy of the American Revolution was thus based on rights. Revolutionaries recognized two basic kinds of rights: natural and civil. According to the most widely accepted political theory of the day, God gave human beings natural rights, some of which they used to create civil governments. In turn, governments could presumably confer civil rights on their subjects or citizens. For American revolutionaries, both natural and civil rights should be committed to writing.
The Empire That Britain Kept
Authors: Gould Eliga H.
Published: December 2012

William Augustus Bowles was a loyalist soldier during the American Revolution who also acted as an agent for the British governor of the Bahamas. Had events gone his way, he could have become the Anglo-Creek leader of a British protectorate on North America's Gulf Coast, but instead, was considered a pirate and died in a Havana jail in 1805 while awaiting trial. Bowles's saga shows that the British Empire was not only a formal but also an informal empire. None had a greater stake in understanding how Britain's informal empire worked than the citizens of the thirteen states that gained independence from the British in 1783. It would be more accurate to see the American Revolution as the moment when Americans began to make the history that other nations and people were prepared to let them make. In this entangled history, Britain played the most significant role. Three pillars of its informal empire were commerce, diplomacy, and international law.
The American Revolution and a New National Politics
Authors: Zagarri Rosemarie
Published: December 2012

When the American Revolution was over, citizens of the new nation could not agree about the event's true meaning and the best way to preserve its authentic legacy. After the new federal government was established in the 1790s, these tensions invaded the national political arena and contributed to the formation of the first political parties that became known as Democratic-Republicans and Federalists. Those who supported George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Federalist Party saw the war simply as a battle for home rule. On the other hand, those who gravitated toward Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans interpreted the Revolution as a conflict not only about home rule but also about who should rule at home. For these American women and men, the principles of equality and natural rights were the Revolution's most important legacies. This chapter discusses the national politics of the new nation following the American Revolution, and examines the origins of the first political parties, the French Revolution and mass politicization, and inclusions and exclusions in the first political parties.
Republican Art and Architecture
Authors: McNamara Martha J.
Published: December 2012

In the two decades following the American Revolution, the art and architecture of the United States were hounded by questions about the role of art in a republican society. The problem facing aspiring artists and architects during those years was how to establish committed patronage for the arts. Not surprisingly, eighteenth-century art and architecture in Britain's North American colonies largely reflected English aesthetic trends. The consumer revolution not only encouraged the demand for portraiture, but also fueled a market in the British colonies for printed books, periodicals, and engravings. Architectural publications occupied a central place in this surge in the distribution of print. Aside from securing patronage, American designers struggled with provincialism in the early republic. Artists such as Charles Willson Peale and John Trumbull hoped to encourage the republic by educating its citizenry.