Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence

by Joseph J. Ellis

  20. See editorial note, AFC 1:136–37.

  21. For the Ciceronian pose, see DA 1:63, 95.

  22. JA to James Warren, 18 May 1776, AP 4:192; JA to Moses Gill, 10 June 1775, AP 3:21; JA to AA, 17 June 1775, AFC 1:216.

  23. JA to James Warren, 22 April 1776, AP 4:135.

  24. JA to Mercy Otis Warren, 16 April 1776, AP 4:124.

  25. AA to JA, 27 November 1775, AFC 1:310.

  26. JA to John Winthrop, 12 May 1776, AP 4:183–84.

  27. See editorial note, AP 4:65–73.

  28. My interpretation of Thoughts has been shaped by Edmund S. Morgan, Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America (New York, 1988).

  29. JA to James Warren, 15 May 1776, AP 4:186.

  30. Ibid., 4:185.

  31. JA to AA, 17 May 1776, AFC 1:410. See as well AP 4:93, from the preface to Thoughts, where Adams also dramatizes the historical significance of his role.

  32. JA to Horatio Gates, 23 March 1776, AP 4:58–60, for Adams’s conviction that George III had, in effect, declared war on the American colonies.

  33. Adams believed, correctly it turned out, that the resolution of May 15 was an implicit call for a referendum on independence. What he feared was that the debates in the colonial legislatures would not be confined to that core question but would spin out of control and in the process undermine the consensus he considered crucial.

  34. Unknown to JA, 9 June 1775, AP 3:18–19; “Humanity” to JA, 23 January 1776, AP 3:411.

  35. AA to JA, 31 March 1776, AFC 1:370.

  36. JA to AA, 14 April 1776, AFC 1:382; AA to JA, 7 May 1776, AFC 1:402. In the effort to find some kind of common ground, they eventually agreed that women should be better educated in the new American republic, in order to instruct the next generation of American leaders. See AA to JA, 14 August 1776; JA to AA, 25 August 1776, AFC 2:94, 108.

  37. Pennsylvania Evening Post, 14 March 1776. On the role of Philadelphia artisans and mechanics in Pennsylvania politics at this propitious moment, see Richard Alan Ryerson, The Revolution Is Now Begun: The Radical Committees of Philadelphia, 1765–1776 (Philadelphia, 1778).

  38. James Sullivan to JA, 12 April 1776, AP 4:212–13.

  39. JA to James Sullivan, 26 May 1776, AP 4:208–12.

  2. OF ARMS AND MEN

  1. For a succinct but stirring account of the battle, including Warren’s fall, see Michael Stephenson, Patriot Battles: How the War of Independence Was Fought (New York, 2007), 211–21. The most recent and comprehensive study of Bunker Hill is Paul Lockhart, The Whites of Their Eyes: Bunker Hill, the First American Army, and the Emergence of George Washington (New York, 2011). For the desecration of Warren’s body, see Benjamin Hichborn to JA, 25 November 1775, AP 3:323.

  2. A lengthier analysis of Washington’s selection as commander in chief of the Continental Army is in Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington (New York, 2004), 68–72. Adams was joking about the relevance of Washington’s height, but the joke contained a kernel of truth. First impressions of Washington were almost always responses to his physical impressiveness.

  3. John Hancock to GW, 2 April 1776, PWR 4:16–17; for the Harvard degree, PWR 4:23; for the medal, JCC 4:248–49; for the same kind of lavish praise from the Massachusetts General Court, PWR 3:555–57.

  4. The best study of Washington’s capacity to embody multiple versions of the American Revolution is Barry Schwartz, George Washington: The Making of an American Symbol (New York, 1987). My understanding of Washington is based on a reading of the Washington Papers and additional research for His Excellency. Among the multiple biographies, three stand out: Marcus Cunliffe, George Washington: Man and Monument (Boston, 1958); Peter R. Henriques, Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington (Charlottesville, 2006); and Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life (New York, 2010).

  5. GW to John Hancock, 9 February 1776, PWR 3:275.

  6. The seminal work on the Continental Army is Charles Royster, A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and the American Character (Chapel Hill, 1979). See also Robert K. Wright, The Continental Army (Washington, D.C., 1983).

  7. T. H. Breen, American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People (New York, 2010).

  8. GW to Joseph Reed, 14 January 1776, PWR 3:89.

  9. GW to Joseph Reed, 1 February 1776, PWR 3:237–38.

  10. General Orders, 12 November 1775, PWR 2:353.

  11. On the dying “spirit of ’76,” see Joseph J. Ellis, American Creation (New York, 2007), 20–57. On the “Norman Rockwell moments,” see Stephenson, Patriot Battles, 15.

  12. John R. Alden, General Charles Lee: Traitor or Patriot? (Baton Rouge, 1951), remains the standard biography. Lee’s letters to Washington during the Boston Siege, which are sprinkled throughout PWR 3, contain multiple examples of his colorful eccentricities, as well as a less formal attitude toward Washington, whom he usually addressed as “my dear general.”

  13. Terry Golway, Washington’s General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution (New York, 2005).

  14. Mark Puls, Henry Knox: Visionary General of the American Revolution (New York, 2008).

  15. JA to GW, January 1776, PWR 3:36–37; Charles Lee to GW, 5 January 1776, PWR 3:30; Charles Lee to GW, 16 February 1776, PWR 4:339–41.

  16. Barnet Schecter, The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution (New York, 2002), 82–87, for the tactical problems posed by New York. See also the little classic by Bruce Bliven, Battle for Manhattan (New York, 1955), 9–12.

  17. Stephenson, Patriotic Battles, 231–32, for the most recent estimate of the British invasion force; see also Schecter, Battle for New York, chap. 5, for a more detailed description of how the men and ships were assembled.

  18. Quoted in Piers Mackesy, The War for America, 1775–1783 (Cambridge, Mass., 1964), 55.

  19. Ibid., 50–55; see also Gerald S. Brown, The American Secretary: The Colonial Policy of Lord George Germain, 1775–1778 (Ann Arbor, 1963), and Stanley Weintraub, Iron Tears: America’s Battle for Freedom, Britain’s Quagmire, 1775–1783 (New York, 2003), 26–44.

  20. Mackesey, War for America, 56–70. David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (New York, 2004), 73–78, also provides a succinct overview of Germain’s Hudson-corridor strategy. This strategy failed spectacularly a year later because Howe, for reasons that will forever remain mysterious, chose to attack Philadelphia rather than move up the Hudson, and Burgoyne’s army, coming down from Ticonderoga, was forced to surrender at Saratoga.

  21. Ira D. Gruber, The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution (New York, 1972), remains the authoritative source. See also Troyer S. Anderson, The Command of the Howe Brothers During the American Revolution (New York, 1936), and Kevin Phillips, The Cousins’ War (New York, 1999), which emphasizes the American sympathies of the Howe brothers.

  22. This sketch is heavily indebted to the above-mentioned works by Gruber and Anderson; see also the thoughtful essay by Maldwyn Jones in George A. Billias, ed., George Washington’s Opponents: British Generals and Admirals in the American Revolution (New York, 1969), 39–72. On the seductive charms of Elizabeth Loring, see the long note in Schecter, Battle for New York, 403–4, and the reliably savvy account in Fischer, Washington’s Crossing, 72–73. On the lasting influence of Bunker Hill on Howe’s thinking, see Henry Lee, Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1812), 1:55, where Charles Lee recalls that “the sad and impressive experience of this murderous day [Bunker Hill] sunk deep into the mind of Sir William Howe; and it seems to have had its influence upon all his subsequent operations with decisive control.”

  23. William Howe to Lord George Germain, 26 April 1776, quoted in Anderson, Command of the Howe Brothers, 120; see also William Howe to Lord George Germain, 23 April 1776, ibid., 118–20, where Howe worries that his biggest challenge will be to lure Washington into a fight.

  24. See Ellis, His Excellency, 89–93, for m
y summary of the strategic options discussed by the senior officers outside Boston during the siege.

  25. GW to John Hancock, 5 May 1776, PWR 4:210.

  26. See General Orders, 22 May 1776, PWR 4:396, for the official description of the fortifications. Lee’s original plan made no mention of Bunker Hill, but my point here is that his defensive scheme implicitly acknowledged that actually preventing the capture of New York was tactically impossible.

  27. On Alexander, or Lord Stirling, see GP 1:216; on Greene’s feverish effort to fortify Brooklyn Heights, see GP 1:231, which provides a good map.

  28. NG to Christopher Green, 7 June 1776, GP 1:232–33.

  29. General Orders, 14 April 1776, PWR 4:59.

  30. For a description of the numerous prostitutes, see Edward Bangs, ed., Journal of Lt. Isaac Bangs (New York, 1890; reprint, 1968). See also General Orders, 27 April 1776, PWR 4:140–42, for the public punishment of the regiment that pulled down the houses.

  31. GW to John Hancock, 25–26 April 1776, PWR 4:128. The Canadian drain left Washington with 10,192 rank and file, 596 officers, 78 staff officers, and 881 noncommissioned officers, of whom nearly 20 percent were not fit for duty, mostly because of dysentery as a consequence of contaminated water. He estimated that this was about half of what he needed to oppose Howe successfully. And his estimate of Howe’s invasion force proved low by more than 10,000 troops.

  32. GW to John Augustine Washington, 31 May–4 June 1776, PWR 6:413.

  33. See John Hancock to GW, 21 May 1776, PWR 4:352–53, for Martha’s inoculation, which occurred in Thomas Jefferson’s lodgings on Chestnut Street. See Philip Schuyler to GW, 13 May 1776, PWR 4:291–92, for news of the Quebec defeat. See Message from the Six Nations, 16 May 1776, PWR 4:319–20, requesting “a Dram [of liquor] in the Morning & in the Eveng.”

  34. Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (New York, 1997), 37–41, is the best account of the process leading up to the drafting of the document.

  35. GW to John Augustine Washington, 31 May–4 June 1776, PWR 4:412.

  36. See John Hancock to GW, 14 June 1776, PWR 4:525–26, for the creation of the Board of War and Ordnance. See JA to NG, 22 June 1776, GP 238–40, for Adams’s expression of incompetence.

  37. NG to JA, 2 June 1776, GP 226.

  38. GW to John Hancock, 10 July 1776, PWR 5:260.

  39. See John Hancock to GW, 11 June 1776, PWR 4:499, for the additional militia deployments. See General Order, 3 June 1776, GP 1:227–28, for a special unit of 200 officers and men to round up the loyalists on Long Island. See JCC 4:406–7, for the new obstacles in the Hudson and East rivers.

  40. General Orders, 6 June 1776, PWR 4:445.

  3. DOGS THAT DID NOT BARK

  1. The ships and troops represent my distillation from Bruce Bliven, Under the Guns: New York, 1775–1776 (New York, 1972), 328; Ira D. Gruber, The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution (New York, 1972), 72–88; and Barnet Schecter, The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution (New York, 2002), 95–111.

  2. Quoted in Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (New York, 1997), 59. Maier was the first modern historian to call attention to “the other declarations,” by which she means the resolutions and petitions generated throughout the colonies in response to the May 15 resolution by the Continental Congress. See ibid., 47–96.

  3. An excellent synthesis of the petition tradition in English history, which began with Magna Carta, is ibid., 50–55.

  4. Ashby, Middlesex County, 1 July 1776, AA 6:706

  5. Town of Boston, 23 May 1776, AA 6:556–57.

  6. Topsfield, Essex County, 21 June 1776, AA 6:703–4.

  7. Town of Malden, 27 May 1776, AA 6:602–3. The only Massachusetts town to reject independence was Barnstable, though the dissenters were barely outvoted and their minority opinion was much longer and more passionate. See AA 6:706.

  8. Virginia in Convention, 15 May 1776, AA 6:461–62.

  9. See, for example, the resolution from Buckingham County, 21 May 1776, AA 5:1206–8.

  10. Maier, American Scripture, 64–68, gives a clear account of the political contexts in Pennsylvania and New York.

  11. Memorial, City of Philadelphia, 25 May 1776, AA 6:560–61; Proceedings of the Provincial Conference … of Philadelphia, 18–25 June 1776, AA 6:951–57. For the role of the radical mechanics in Philadelphia politics, see Richard A. Ryerson, The Revolution Is Now Begun: The Radical Committees of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1978).

  12. See “The Humble Address of the General Committee of Mechanics,” 29 May 1776, AA 6:614–15, which also includes the reply from the provincial congress. See John Hazelton, The Declaration of Independence: Its History (New York, 1906), 181–86, for the tardy New York vote.

  13. Topsfield, Essex County, 21 June 1776, AA 6:704.

  14. JA to John Hughes, 4 June 1776, AP 4:238–39.

  15. JA to Patrick Henry, 3 June 1776, AP 4:234–35.

  16. JA to AA, 2 June 1776, AFC 2:3.

  17. JA to William Cushing, 9 June 1776, AP 4:245.

  18. See, for example, Adams’s work on the Board of War and Ordnance, AP 4:253–59, and the Plan of Treaties, AP 4:260–78. More on this in Chapter 5.

  19. See JCC 5:428–29, for the delay of a vote until 1 July. See editorial note, AP 4:341–44, for the creation of the draft committee.

  20. Maier, American Scripture, 41–46, is the most comprehensive and recent account. But this is sacred ground, and several generations of historians have told the story of the Declaration with considerable distinction and influenced my account here and below. See especially Carl Becker, The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas (New York, 1922); Julian Boyd, The Declaration of Independence: The Evolution of the Text (Princeton, 1945); and Gary Wills, Inventing America: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence (New York, 1968). My own earlier effort is in American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson (New York, 1998), 46–59. I have also edited an anthology of the different interpretations, What Did the Declaration Declare? (Boston and New York, 1999).

  21. TJ to Thomas Nelson, 16 May 1776, JP 1:292.

  22. Ellis, American Sphinx, 24–26.

  23. Ibid., 29–36.

  24. TJ to James Madison, 30 August 1823, TJ to Henry Lee, 8 May 1825, quoted in editorial note, JP 1:415. See JP 1:413–33, for Julian Boyd’s long note on the multiple drafts of the document. Maier, American Scripture, 99–105, is also excellent on this score.

  25. Edmund Pendleton to TJ, 22 July 1776, JP 1:471.

  26. See DA 3:336, for the Adams recollection.

  27. See DA 3:396–97, for Adams’s autobiographical account of the speeches on 1 July 1776.

  28. Maier, American Scripture, 97–153, makes the longest and strongest case for seeing the delegates as coauthors of the Declaration based on their extensive revisions.

  29. Ibid., 236–41, reproduces the revised Jefferson draft in which all the revisions and deletions are shown. All quotations are taken from this accessible version of the text. A slightly different version that also italicizes the deleted sections of Jefferson’s draft is conveniently available in Merrill Peterson, ed., The Portable Jefferson (New York, 1977), 235–41.

  30. See H. Trevor Colbourn, The Lamp of Experience: Whig History and the Intellectual Origins of the American Revolution (Chapel Hill, 1965), 158–84, for Jefferson’s “expatriation” and the Saxon myth.

  31. See Ellis, American Sphinx, 52–53, for my treatment of this sentimental passage, which despite its deletion accurately captured the mood of many ordinary Americans. There was a potent sentimental streak in Jefferson, and the historian who has best captured it is Andrew Burstein, The Inner Jefferson: Portrait of a Grieving Optimist (Charlottesville, 2000).

  32. Maier, American Scripture, 236.

  33. Lincoln quoted in Ellis, American Sphinx, 54.

  34. For the rest of his long life, Jefferson was obsessed wit
h preserving his original draft of the Declaration, convinced that it was vastly superior to the official version edited by the congress. See Richard Henry Lee to TJ, 21 July 1776, JP 1:471, for Lee’s attempt to empathize with Jefferson, wishing that “the Manuscript had not been mangled as it is.”

  35. Bliven, Under the Guns, 318–19.

  36. General Orders, 2 July 1776, PWR 5:180.

  4. ETC., ETC., ETC.

  1. See Sylvia R. Frey, The British Soldier in America: A Social History of Military Life in the Revolutionary Period (Austin, 1981), 37–38, for the casualty rate during the voyage; and Elizabeth A. Fenn, Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775–1782 (New York, 2001).

  2. Journal of Ambrose Serle, 12–23 July 1776, LA 147–48.

  3. See Stanley Weintraub, Iron Tears: America’s Battle for Freedom, Britain’s Quagmire, 1775–1783 (New York, 2003), 65, for the quotation.

  4. See David McCullough, 1776 (New York, 2005), 142, for the quotation.

  5. Frey, British Soldier in America, 20–26.

  6. NG to Jacob Greene, 28 September 1776, GP 1:303–4. See also Matthew H. Spring, With Zeal and with Bayonets Only: The British Army on Campaign in North America (Norman, 2008), which argues that most of Howe’s army had only limited combat experience.

  7. John Hancock to GW, 6 July 1776, PWR 5:219.

  8. See editorial note, PWR 5:247; Journal of Isaac Bangs, 10 July 1776, LA 132–33, for the reading of the Declaration. See Weintraub, Iron Tears, 70–71, for the “melted majesty” quotation. See General Orders, 10 July 1776, PWR 5:256, for Washington’s reprimand.

  9. NG to GW, 5 July 1776, PWR 5:212.

  10. GW to John Hancock, 4 July 1776, PWR 5:200.

  11. See PWR 5:350–62, for the multiple letters on the northern campaign.

  12. Council of War, 12 July 1776, PWR 5:280.

  13. GW to John Hancock, 12 July 1776, PWR 5:283–85; NG to GW, 14 July 1776, GP 1:253–56.

  14. Joseph Plumb Martin, A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier (New York, 2001), 17–18.

  15. General Orders, 13 July 1776, PWR 5:290.