Boston and the dawn of American independence
By: Brian Deming
Publisher: Westholme
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Yardley, PA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 508
ISBN-13: 9781594161759
Subjects: American Revolution (1775-1783) fast (OCoLC)fst01351668; Siege of Boston (Massachusetts : 1775-1776) fast (OCoLC)fst01354735; History
Description: In 1760, no one could imagine the American colonies revolting against Great Britain. The colonists were not hungry peasants groaning under the whip of a brute. They lived well. Land was cheap, wages were good, opportunities abounded. While many colonists had been in the New World for generations, they identified with Britain, and England was still "home." Yet in the space of just fifteen years these sturdy bonds snapped. Boston, a town of just 16,000, lit the fire for American Independence. Here the author explains how and why in his deeply researched history. To dodge British taxes, Boston merchants for as long as anyone could remember had routinely smuggled in molasses from French and Spanish possessions in the Caribbean. Boston distillers transformed this sweet cargo into rum, the liquid gold traded around the world. But British authorities cracked down on smuggling and imposed the Sugar Act to help pay for the debts incurred during their wars against France. Then came the hated Stamp Act, a tax on documents, newspapers, and printed materials of all kinds. In courtrooms, in the press, and in the streets, Bostonians rallied in protest against taxation without representation. As anger swept America, Boston was at the center of the storm, which burst forth with the infamous massacre and the Boston Tea Party. By 1775, open warfare erupted at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. This history ties these scenes together with the people of the time, including John and Sam Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere, as well as Thomas Hutchinson, the beleaguered Massachusetts royal governor, and James Otis, the bombastic, unstable early patriot. Readers hear their voices, but also those of many amazing, colorful, and memorable personalities, feisty mob leaders, defiant Tories, terrified townspeople. The author illuminates this epic story with views of everyday life inside taverns, outside newspaper offices, and along the wharves, and the political dramas in London and Philadelphia that shaped the destiny of an empire and gave rise to the world's first modern democracy. -- From publisher's website.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 475-492) and index.
Table of contents: title: Let Loose His Wrath; title: Favorable Signs; title: Small Spark; title: Two Young Eagles; title: Most Essential Rights; title: A Farthing; title: Rage of Devils; title: Joyful Day; title: Tail of a Rattle Snake; title: Ripe for Riot; title: Gloom and Uneasiness; title: Impudent, Virulent, and Seditious Lies; title: Weakness of Government; title: Blood of the Righteous Abel; title: Fire and Be Damned; title: Hang the Dog!; title: Stubborn Things; title: Every Step but One; title: Blackhearted Fellows; title: Reproached and Reviled; title: Firm, Intrepid, and Inflexible; title: Doctrine of Devils; title: When the Wicked Beareth Rule; title: Sharpest Thorn; title: Eagerness and Spirit; title: Unclean Birds; title: World Turned Upside Down; title: Bells a Ringing; title: For God's Sake Fire; title: Our All at Stake; title: Nothing Remarkable; title: Breast Works; title: Suburbs of Hell; title: Amen.