In a Defiant Stance: The Conditions of Law in Massachusetts Bay, the Irish Comparison, and the Coming of the American RevolutionThe minimum of violence accompanying the success of the American Revolution resulted in large part, argues this book, from the conditions of law the British allowed in the American colonies. By contrast, Ireland's struggle for independence was prolonged, bloody, and bitter largely because of the repressive conditions of law imposed by Britain. Examining the most rebellious American colony, Massachusetts Bay, Professor Reid finds that law was locally controlled while imperial law was almost nonexistent as an influence on the daily lives of individuals. In Ireland the same English common law, because of imperial control of legal machinery, produced an opposite result. The Irish were forced to resort to secret, underground violence. The author examines various Massachusetts Bay institutions to show the consequences of whig party control, in contrast to the situation in 18th-century Ireland. A general conclusion is that law, the conditions of positive law, and the matter of who controls the law may have more significant effects on the course of events than is generally assumed. |
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... called attention to the relative absence of violence on the rebel side . They comment , for example , on the fact that no British official was lynched by an American mob and conclude that it reveals much about our Revolution . There is ...
... called it either conservative or relatively nonviolent . A vital dimension has been missing from the histories of the American Revolution . To write a history while ignoring local law and the conditions under which imperial law operated ...
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Contents
1 | |
7 | |
17 | |
27 | |
41 | |
6 In Defiance of the Threats | 55 |
7 Unless Laws Are Enforced | 65 |
8 By Consent of the Council | 74 |
12 The Government They Have Set Up | 118 |
13 The Oppression of Centuries | 135 |
14 A Most Dreadful Ruin | 143 |
15 To Effect a Revolution | 150 |
16 Enforced by Mobs | 160 |
Notes | 174 |
Acknowledgments | 219 |
Index | 220 |
9 The Seeds of Anarchy | 85 |
10 The Same Leaven with the People | 92 |
11 Disjointed and Independent of Each Other | 100 |
Back Cover | 227 |