Myths and Facts of the American Revolution: A Commentary on United States History as it is Written |
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Abigail Adams acts alliance American independence American Revolution arms asserted attempt August believe Benjamin Franklin Britain British Government Burke Canada cause claim colonies command constitution countrymen crime declared Diplomatic Correspondence Disunion chiefs Disunion leaders Disunionists Empire enemy England English ernment fact favor force France Franklin Franklin's Writings freedom French friends of America George Grenville Gouverneur Morris Governor Dinwiddie historian History Home Government ican Indians inhabitants insurgent Jefferson John Adams Joseph Reed Justice King land large number letter liberty Lord Chatham Lord North Loyalists Massachusetts ment ministers ministry mother country nation never officers opinion opposed Parliament party patriotism peace political President of Congress provinces reason rebellion Republic revolting colonists Revolutionary army Revolutionary Myth Revolutionists Roosevelt Samuel Adams sentiments slave slavery soldiers Speech statesmen subjects thirteen colonies tion tory troops true United utterances Washington to Governor Washington's Writings Whig wrote
Popular passages
Page 297 - Is true Freedom but to break Fetters for our own dear sake, And, with leathern hearts, forget That we owe mankind a debt? No! true freedom is to share All the chains our brothers wear, And, with heart and hand, to be Earnest to make others free!
Page 103 - If I were to be called upon to draw a picture of the times and of men, from what I have seen, heard, and in part know, I should in one word say that idleness, dissipation, and extravagance seem to have laid fast hold of most of them; that speculation, peculation, and an insatiable thirst for riches seem to have got the better of every other consideration, and almost every order of men...
Page 106 - Men may speculate as they will; they may talk of patriotism; they may draw a few examples, from ancient story, of great achievements performed by its influence ; but whoever builds upon them, as a sufficient basis for conducting a long and bloody war, will find himself deceived in the end.
Page 261 - It is admitted that the power of taxing the people and their property is essential to the very existence of government, and may be legitimately exercised on the objects to which it is applicable, to the utmost extent to which the government may choose to carry it. The only security against the abuse of this power is found in the structure of the government itself.
Page 17 - We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death.
Page 41 - It was against the recital of an act of Parliament, rather than against any suffering under its enactments, that they took up arms. They went to war against a preamble. They fought seven years against a declaration.
Page 98 - In short, such is the difference of character, of manners, of religion, of interest, of the different colonies, that I think, if I am not wholly ignorant of the human mind, were they left to themselves, there would soon be a civil war from one end of the continent to the other; while the Indians and negroes would, with better reason, impatiently watch the opportunity of exterminating them all together.
Page 260 - That his majesty's subjects in these colonies owe the same allegiance to the crown of Great Britain that is owing from his subjects born within the realm, and all due subordination to that august body, the Parliament of Great Britain.
Page 203 - ... are but so many grains of dust — it was but a week, since this old man had stood for days upon his trial before this very body, charged with having dared to assert the infamy of that traffic, which has for its accursed merchandise men and women, and their unborn children.
Page 117 - We had no domestic throne to overturn, no privileged orders to cast down, no violent changes of property to encounter. In the American revolution, no man sought or wished for more than to defend and enjoy his own. None hoped for plunder or for spoil. Rapacity was unknown to it ; the axe was not among the instruments...