Colonies to Nation, 1763-1789: A Documentary History of the American Revolution

by Jack P. Greene (Editor)

The growing conviction in London that measures had to be undertaken at the end of the French and Indian war to shore up British authority in the colonies was revealed by the stream of proposals for imperial reform that poured from the pens of Crown officials and other interested observers during the early 1760s. In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birth-right, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it―for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before. ―From A Warning to the Thomas Jefferson, “A Summary View of the Rights of British-America” (August, 1774)

Genres: History, American Revolution, American History, Nonfiction

602 pages, Paperback

Published March 17, 1975

About the author

Jack P. Greene is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at The Johns Hopkins University.

Reviews

[Kenny]

Excellent compendium of primary sources.

[Ben Fabian]

Fantastic collection of documents.

[Sam]

James Otis Jr. is epic.

[Olivia Atkinson]

girl

[Dylan Mazer]

I read this book for my class and I can definitely say it taught me much more about the American revolution than my professor did.

[Lindsey]

His summaries are excellent. He also lists several resources for each document. The book is filled with primary documents: ideal for any Historian!

(Okay, so I didn't read all of this one...but this book is to be used more for research than just to read.)

[Omar]

great documentary history of the American Revolution era, through primary source writings such as private journal entries, books, etc that offers an insights into the lives, struggle, thoughts of our founding fathers