Tracts of the American Revolution, 1763-1776

by Jensen, Merrill

• ISBN13: 9780872206939
• ISBN10: 0872206939
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Hackett Pub Co Inc

Summary

A reprint of the 1967 Bobbs-Merrill edition. This volume brings together seventeen of the most important pamphlets produced by the American colonies as they opposed British measures and policies after 1763, and as they disputed the issue of independence with one another between 1774 and 1776. The most famous pamphleteers -- James Otis, John Dickinson, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine -- are here; so too are lesser-known ones. Students of American history and political thought will find in these tracts rich evidence of the colonists' grievances against Britain, their methods of persuasion, and the development of political thought that led to the Declaration of Independence. A student-oriented introduction presents a capsule history of the events of the period and an analysis of the context of each tract.

Author Biography

Merrill Jensen was Vilas Research Professor of History, University of Wisconsin

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Pamphlet Writers and Their Times	xiii
The Role of Pamphlets and Newspapers
British Policies and American Opposition, 1760--1766
British Policies and American Opposition, 1767--1770
The American Debate Over Independence, 1770--1776
Select Bibliography	lxxi
Editor's Note	lxxiii
Tracts of the American Revolution, 1763--1776
An Essay on the Trade of the Northern Colonies (1764)	3	(16)
Stephen Hopkins
The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1764)	19	(22)
James Otis
The Rights of Colonies Examined (1764)	41	(22)
Stephen Hopkins
A Letter from A Gentleman at Halifax to his Friend in Rhode Island (1765)	63	(16)
Martin Howard, Jr.
The Constitutional Courant: Containing Matters Interesting to Liberty, and No Wise Repugnant to Loyalty (1765)	79	(15)
William Goddard
Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes in the British Colonies, For the Purpose of Raising a Revenue, by Act of Parliament (1765)	94	(14)
Daniel Dulany
An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies (1766)	108	(19)
Richard Bland
Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies (1768)	127	(37)
John Dickinson
The Nature and Extent of Parliamentary Power Considered (1768)	164	(21)
William Hicks
Extracts from the Proceedings of the Court of Vice-Admiralty (1769)	185	(22)
Henry Laurens
A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston (1770)	207	(26)
James Bowdoin
Dr. Joseph Warren
Samuel Pemberton
A State of the Rights of the Colonists (1772)	233	(23)
Samuel Adams
A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)	256	(21)
Thomas Jefferson
Massachusettensis and Novanglus (1774--1775)	277	(73)
Daniel Leonard
John Adams
A Candid Examination of the Mutual Claims of Great Britain, And the Colonies: With a Plan of Accommodation on Constitutional Principles (1775)	350	(50)
Joseph Galloway
Common Sense Addressed to the Inhabitants of America (1776)	400	(47)
Thomas Paine
Plain Truth: Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, Containing, Remarks on a Late Pamphlet, Entitled Common Sense (1776)	447
James Chalmers
Index