The Commander in Chief Moving among the members of the second Continental Congress, which met at Philadelphia in May, 1775, was one, and but one, military figure. George Washington alone attended the sittings in uniform. This colonel from Virginia, now in his forty-fourth year, was a great landholder, an owner of slaves, an Anglican churchman,…
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Washington and His Comrades in Arms, Preface and Contents
Prefatory Note The author is aware of a certain audacity in undertaking, himself a Briton, to appear in a company of American writers on American history and above all to write on the subject of Washington. If excuse is needed it is to be found in the special interest of the career of Washington to…
The Eve of the Revolution, Bibliographical Note
Contemporary Writings Many of the most important documents for this period are in the following brief collections: W. Macdonald, “Select Charters and Other Documents,” 1906 H. W. Preston, “Documents Illustrative of American History,” 5th ed., 1900 H. Niles, “Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America,” 1822 J. Almon, “Collection of Papers Relative to the…
The Eve of the Revolution, Chapter VI: Testing the Issue
The die is now cast; the colonies must either submit or triumph.–George III. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among, these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.–Thomas Jefferson. Two months and ten days after…
The Eve of the Revolution, Chapter V: A Little Discreet Conduct
It has been his [Thomas Hutchinson’s] principle from a boy that mankind are to be governed by the discerning few, and it has been ever since his ambition to be the hero of the few.–Samuel Adams. We have not been so quiet these five years …. If it were not for two or three Adamses,…