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American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People
Before there could be a revolution, there was a rebellion; before patriots, there were insurgents. Challenging and displacing decades of received wisdom, T. H. Breen's strikingly original book explains how ordinary Americans—most of them members of farm families living in small communities—were drawn into a successful insurgency against imperial authority. This is the compelling story of our national political origins that most Americans do not know. It is a story of rumor, charity, vengeance, and restraint. American Insurgents, American Patriots reminds us that revolutions are violent events. They provoke passion and rage, a willingness to use violence to achieve political ends, a deep sense of betrayal, and a strong religious conviction that God expects an oppressed people to defend their rights. The American Revolution was no exception. A few celebrated figures in the Continental Congress do not make for a revolution. It requires tens of thousands of ordinary men and women willing to sacrifice, kill, and be killed. Breen not only gives the history of these ordinary Americans but, drawing upon a wealth of rarely seen documents, restores their primacy to American independence. Mobilizing two years before the Declaration of Independence, American insurgents in all thirteen colonies concluded that resistance to British oppression required organized violence against the state. They channeled popular rage through elected committees of safety and observation, which before 1776 were the heart of American resistance. American Insurgents, American Patriots is the stunning account of their insurgency, without which there would have been no independent republic as we know it.
347 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 6, 2010
32 people are currently reading
417 people want to read
About the author
T.H. Breen
55 books29 followersTimothy H. Breen is the William Smith Mason Professor of American History at Northwestern University. He is also the founding director of the Kaplan Humanities Center and the Nicholas D. Chabraja Center for Historical Studies at Northwestern. Breen is a specialist on the American Revolution; he studies the history of early America with a special interest in political thought, material culture, and cultural anthropology.
Breen received his Ph.D in history from Yale University. He also holds an honorary MA from Oxford University. In addition to the appointment at Northwestern University, he has taught at Cambridge University (as the Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions), at Oxford University (as the Harmsworth Professor of American History), and at University of Chicago, Yale University, and California Institute of Technology. He is an honorary fellow of the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and has also enjoyed research support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Humboldt Foundation, the National Humanities Center, the Mellon Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. An essay he published on the end of slavery in Massachusetts became the basis for a full-length opera that was produced in Chicago. He has written for the New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, American Scholar, the New York Times, and the London Review of Books.
Breen received his Ph.D in history from Yale University. He also holds an honorary MA from Oxford University. In addition to the appointment at Northwestern University, he has taught at Cambridge University (as the Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions), at Oxford University (as the Harmsworth Professor of American History), and at University of Chicago, Yale University, and California Institute of Technology. He is an honorary fellow of the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and has also enjoyed research support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Humboldt Foundation, the National Humanities Center, the Mellon Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. An essay he published on the end of slavery in Massachusetts became the basis for a full-length opera that was produced in Chicago. He has written for the New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, American Scholar, the New York Times, and the London Review of Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
December 4, 2013
I'd only recommend this to history lovers. It's an academic approach for sure. It's a view of the American Revolution from the "average-Joe" perspective. It leads you to ask the question: was the Revolution carried out by the Founding Fathers pulling the common man up by his bootstraps, or was it the common man dragging the Founding Fathers along for the ride? GREAT READ!!
May 3, 2015
If you study popular books on the American Revolution, it's easy to come away with the idea that the Revolution was led by the 56 men, give or take a few that were taking care of business elsewhere during pivotal moments in American history. American Insurgents, American Patriots shows that there's much more to the story than that.
From the role of the Black Regiment to the periodicals and pamphleteers to every day working men — and women — this book tells the story of a revolution that would never have succeeded without the blood, sweat and tears of the common people.
T. H. Breen's style of writing is engaging and easy to understand without being pedantic. I listened to the audio version narrated by John Pruden, one of my favorite narrators for this type of book. His elocution and pace are pitch perfect.
For the most part, Breen provides a source for the claims he makes. For example, when he shares the opinions of Elizabeth Shaw, a Tory who saw the events from a decidedly different point of view, you know he's getting the information directly the source. Or at least her letters, since she's been long gone. I did a quick "look inside" on Amazon, and there are plenty of footnotes - enough to satisfy even the most source-hungry among us.
Breen doesn't gloss over the events of the Revolution either. While there is no outright murder of Tories mentioned, plenty of lives are destroyed and at least one dies from a splinter in his groin (ouch!) after being paraded about on a rail. The fact that there wasn't more death directly attributed to the protests and informal action always struck me as the best evidence of divine intervention.
That said, Breen is far more factual and less agenda-driven than I've come to expect from most academics. (You would think they would all be unbiased, but you would be wrong, these days.) I am adding T.H. Breen to my list of favorite authors of American history, and I am eager to read another one of his books. My only problem is going to be choosing which one.
From the role of the Black Regiment to the periodicals and pamphleteers to every day working men — and women — this book tells the story of a revolution that would never have succeeded without the blood, sweat and tears of the common people.
T. H. Breen's style of writing is engaging and easy to understand without being pedantic. I listened to the audio version narrated by John Pruden, one of my favorite narrators for this type of book. His elocution and pace are pitch perfect.
For the most part, Breen provides a source for the claims he makes. For example, when he shares the opinions of Elizabeth Shaw, a Tory who saw the events from a decidedly different point of view, you know he's getting the information directly the source. Or at least her letters, since she's been long gone. I did a quick "look inside" on Amazon, and there are plenty of footnotes - enough to satisfy even the most source-hungry among us.
Breen doesn't gloss over the events of the Revolution either. While there is no outright murder of Tories mentioned, plenty of lives are destroyed and at least one dies from a splinter in his groin (ouch!) after being paraded about on a rail. The fact that there wasn't more death directly attributed to the protests and informal action always struck me as the best evidence of divine intervention.
That said, Breen is far more factual and less agenda-driven than I've come to expect from most academics. (You would think they would all be unbiased, but you would be wrong, these days.) I am adding T.H. Breen to my list of favorite authors of American history, and I am eager to read another one of his books. My only problem is going to be choosing which one.
May 18, 2022
An amazing look into the little told perspective of the Revolutionary war and the culture leading up to it.
February 22, 2015
This is a very interesting, highly readable and thought-provoking look at the American Revolution. Rather than retreading familiar ground or invoking the Founding Fathers, Breen examines the vital role of ordinary people in the making of the revolution and how insurgency led to revolution and insurgents became patriots.
While I found everything in this book illuminating, Breen addresses two topics particularly well. He explains why the American Revolution did not lead to the excesses of many other revolutions (the French Revolution, for example). There are numerous examples of insurgent committees punishing loyalists and ideological dissenters, yet the American patriots never engaged in the sort of widespread repression and terror that has characterized so many other revolutionary movements.
The other subject that Breen sheds light on is how the patriots made the transition from being British subjects to becoming Americans. He notes that, a couple of years before the Declaration of Independence, ordinary people in the 13 colonies were already speaking of a country that did not yet exist. The United States was a country of the imagination before it was a geopolitical reality. Indeed, it needed to be the former before it could become the latter. Breen's discussion of this process of ceasing to be British and of becoming American has given greater depth to my understanding of the American Revolution.
My only quibble with the book is that Breen is too often repetitive when stating his case.
While I found everything in this book illuminating, Breen addresses two topics particularly well. He explains why the American Revolution did not lead to the excesses of many other revolutions (the French Revolution, for example). There are numerous examples of insurgent committees punishing loyalists and ideological dissenters, yet the American patriots never engaged in the sort of widespread repression and terror that has characterized so many other revolutionary movements.
The other subject that Breen sheds light on is how the patriots made the transition from being British subjects to becoming Americans. He notes that, a couple of years before the Declaration of Independence, ordinary people in the 13 colonies were already speaking of a country that did not yet exist. The United States was a country of the imagination before it was a geopolitical reality. Indeed, it needed to be the former before it could become the latter. Breen's discussion of this process of ceasing to be British and of becoming American has given greater depth to my understanding of the American Revolution.
My only quibble with the book is that Breen is too often repetitive when stating his case.
June 4, 2013
Breen isn't the only scholar lately who wants to give the American Revolution back to the people, but this is a better book than most. Tight, readable...good academic history book for people who might usually read pop histories but want something with a little more meat. The break with Britain, Breen argues, did not take place because of the founding fathers in their Continental Congress. By the time they were signing the Decl. of Independence, the break had already happened among common people throughout the colonies. During 1774 and 1775, as the British sealed the port of Boston and meddled in Massachusetts government, farmers in the hinterlands were beginning to move toward a revolutionary philosophy. In New England, and eventually in the other colonies, people began to think of themselves as "Americans," and began to believe that armed resistance to British actions might be acceptable. A healthy dose of paranoia went along with this...stirred up by newspapers, many people came to believe that an evil faction had taken over the British government and was secretly trying to destroy the rights of Britons and enslave the American colonists.
Committees were formed in communities all across the colonies, to organize relief efforts for Bostonians affected by the closure of the port, and later to enforce a boycott of British goods. These committees basically forced people to choose sides, and helped people come to understand the punishment of Boston as an action against all Americans. When Americans were actually killed at Lexington and Concord (just as the paranoid rabble rousers had basically predicted) thousands were ready to take up arms. The people were ahead of their leaders. The men in Philly were pushed into a MORE revolutionary position, because they could not slow down the events on the ground.
I will say that Breen spends a lot of time defending the revolutionary committees, and pointing out all the ways they were fair and reasonable and attempting to play by rules of law. I wonder if he was a little choosy with the evidence, and I wonder if you could easily write another book showing many ways these groups were unreasonable and awful, ignoring the law and tarring and feathering people, burning their houses, etc. I think this might be possible, but I'm not sure. I also wonder (as usual for me) about Nova Scotia...since most of the people there had moved there from Massachusetts, shouldn't they have been even more likely than most people at the time to easily slip into an insurgent ideology? Why didn't they? Was it just poor communication? Not enough newspapers?
Committees were formed in communities all across the colonies, to organize relief efforts for Bostonians affected by the closure of the port, and later to enforce a boycott of British goods. These committees basically forced people to choose sides, and helped people come to understand the punishment of Boston as an action against all Americans. When Americans were actually killed at Lexington and Concord (just as the paranoid rabble rousers had basically predicted) thousands were ready to take up arms. The people were ahead of their leaders. The men in Philly were pushed into a MORE revolutionary position, because they could not slow down the events on the ground.
I will say that Breen spends a lot of time defending the revolutionary committees, and pointing out all the ways they were fair and reasonable and attempting to play by rules of law. I wonder if he was a little choosy with the evidence, and I wonder if you could easily write another book showing many ways these groups were unreasonable and awful, ignoring the law and tarring and feathering people, burning their houses, etc. I think this might be possible, but I'm not sure. I also wonder (as usual for me) about Nova Scotia...since most of the people there had moved there from Massachusetts, shouldn't they have been even more likely than most people at the time to easily slip into an insurgent ideology? Why didn't they? Was it just poor communication? Not enough newspapers?
August 29, 2010
Breen has a convincing argument about the role of everyday people in the Revolution, and good primary material to back it up. But he makes the book a much less enjoyable read with his repetitiveness--it seems to be a common syndrome for writers to try to hammer in their arguments, even when the material speaks for itself.
January 8, 2013
My review of American Insurgents, American Patriots, at Books and Culture: http://www.booksandculture.com/articl...
August 22, 2019
An interesting, if somewhat repetitive, account of the growing discontent of Americans in the colonies in the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence.
Breen does a good job combing through primary resources to give details about the general tenor of the populace as they feared various acts by Parliament and the King were leading to their eventual subjugation. The best takeaway, one that is rarely discussed, is that the American Revolution wasn't started or truly led by learned men in Philadelphia. Rather, they were able to act politically on independence since they already knew that many colonists throughout the land had already taken action (both mental and physical) in determining the reassertion of their rights and liberties, and to defend them against Britain. What is also learned is the many ministerial and governance mistakes, fomenting colonial anger, Parliament undertook in the years leading up to the Revolution.
Much of the accounts tend to focus on New England, and I would've like to have more descriptions about insurgents in the Southern colonies. However, this is probably because more written material exists from the numerous town meetings and committees that almost every town and hamlet in the North conducted.
Overall a solid review of how the Revolution was quite popular and could have only have been successful with the support with the majority of the people.
All and all An interesting, if somewhat repetitive, account of the growing discontent of Americans in the colonies in the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence.
Breen does a good job combing through primary resources to give details about the general tenor of the populace as they feared various acts by Parliament and the King were leading to their eventual subjugation. The best takeaway, one that is rarely discussed, is that the American Revolution wasn't started or truly led by learned men in Philadelphia. Rather, they were able to act politically on independence since they already knew that many colonists throughout the land had already taken action (both mental and physical) in determining the reassertion of their rights and liberties, and to defend them against Britain. What is also learned is the many ministerial and governance mistakes, fomenting colonial anger, Parliament undertook in the years leading up to the Revolution.
Much of the accounts tend to focus on New England, and I would've like to have more descriptions about insurgents in the Southern colonies. However, this is probably because more written material exists from the numerous town meetings and committees that almost every town and hamlet in the North conducted.
Overall a solid review of how the Revolution was quite popular and could have only have been successful with the support with the majority of the people.
All and allAn interesting, if somewhat repetitive, account of the growing discontent of Americans in the colonies in the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence.
Breen does a good job combing through primary resources to give details about the general tenor of the populace as they feared various acts by Parliament and the King were leading to their eventual subjugation. The best takeaway, one that is rarely discussed, is that the American Revolution wasn't started or truly led by learned men in Philadelphia. Rather, they were able to act politically on independence since they already knew that many colonists throughout the land had already taken action (both mental and physical) in determining the reassertion of their rights and liberties, and to defend them against Britain. What is also learned is the many ministerial and governance mistakes, fomenting colonial anger, Parliament undertook in the years leading up to the Revolution.
Much of the accounts tend to focus on New England, and I would've like to have more descriptions about insurgents in the Southern colonies. However, this is probably because more written material exists from the numerous town meetings and committees that almost every town and hamlet in the North conducted.
Overall a solid review of how the Revolution was quite popular and could have only have been successful with the support with the majority of the people.
Breen does a good job combing through primary resources to give details about the general tenor of the populace as they feared various acts by Parliament and the King were leading to their eventual subjugation. The best takeaway, one that is rarely discussed, is that the American Revolution wasn't started or truly led by learned men in Philadelphia. Rather, they were able to act politically on independence since they already knew that many colonists throughout the land had already taken action (both mental and physical) in determining the reassertion of their rights and liberties, and to defend them against Britain. What is also learned is the many ministerial and governance mistakes, fomenting colonial anger, Parliament undertook in the years leading up to the Revolution.
Much of the accounts tend to focus on New England, and I would've like to have more descriptions about insurgents in the Southern colonies. However, this is probably because more written material exists from the numerous town meetings and committees that almost every town and hamlet in the North conducted.
Overall a solid review of how the Revolution was quite popular and could have only have been successful with the support with the majority of the people.
All and all An interesting, if somewhat repetitive, account of the growing discontent of Americans in the colonies in the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence.
Breen does a good job combing through primary resources to give details about the general tenor of the populace as they feared various acts by Parliament and the King were leading to their eventual subjugation. The best takeaway, one that is rarely discussed, is that the American Revolution wasn't started or truly led by learned men in Philadelphia. Rather, they were able to act politically on independence since they already knew that many colonists throughout the land had already taken action (both mental and physical) in determining the reassertion of their rights and liberties, and to defend them against Britain. What is also learned is the many ministerial and governance mistakes, fomenting colonial anger, Parliament undertook in the years leading up to the Revolution.
Much of the accounts tend to focus on New England, and I would've like to have more descriptions about insurgents in the Southern colonies. However, this is probably because more written material exists from the numerous town meetings and committees that almost every town and hamlet in the North conducted.
Overall a solid review of how the Revolution was quite popular and could have only have been successful with the support with the majority of the people.
All and allAn interesting, if somewhat repetitive, account of the growing discontent of Americans in the colonies in the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence.
Breen does a good job combing through primary resources to give details about the general tenor of the populace as they feared various acts by Parliament and the King were leading to their eventual subjugation. The best takeaway, one that is rarely discussed, is that the American Revolution wasn't started or truly led by learned men in Philadelphia. Rather, they were able to act politically on independence since they already knew that many colonists throughout the land had already taken action (both mental and physical) in determining the reassertion of their rights and liberties, and to defend them against Britain. What is also learned is the many ministerial and governance mistakes, fomenting colonial anger, Parliament undertook in the years leading up to the Revolution.
Much of the accounts tend to focus on New England, and I would've like to have more descriptions about insurgents in the Southern colonies. However, this is probably because more written material exists from the numerous town meetings and committees that almost every town and hamlet in the North conducted.
Overall a solid review of how the Revolution was quite popular and could have only have been successful with the support with the majority of the people.
July 6, 2025
I read a lot of musician biographies and a recurring theme is that there are no "overnight successes". Every band or musician reaching stardom is presaged by years of hard work and setbacks. This book focuses on all the insurgency and really community organizing that led up to open, organized rebellion against the crown. This is a lot about agrarian communities ("farmers") sending food to beleaguered rebels in Boston to Committees of Correspondence, Committees of Safety, etc. that gave structure to the insurgency while carrying out acts of proto-rebellious rebellion, including homegrown Lockean ideology to violent mob actions like tar and feathering.
One of the interesting preludes is Thompson's War, an early American Revolutionary War confrontation between Samuel Thompson's patriot militia and loyalists. The confrontation ended without fatalities, but provoked the retaliatory Burning of Falmouth five months later. Falmouth is now known as Portland, Maine, but Maine was part of Massachusetts at the time. Thompson was elected to represent his county at the State’s Constitutional Ratifying Convention. He came out strongly opposed to the Constitution. He used the opportunity to rail against slavery. He even criticized George Washington for the practice when he opined, “his character has sunk fifty percent.” Thompson spent the final decade of his life serving in the Massachusetts Assembly with his last election being to the State Senate just months before his death. He represented a kind of radicalism that started the move toward revolution.
One of the interesting preludes is Thompson's War, an early American Revolutionary War confrontation between Samuel Thompson's patriot militia and loyalists. The confrontation ended without fatalities, but provoked the retaliatory Burning of Falmouth five months later. Falmouth is now known as Portland, Maine, but Maine was part of Massachusetts at the time. Thompson was elected to represent his county at the State’s Constitutional Ratifying Convention. He came out strongly opposed to the Constitution. He used the opportunity to rail against slavery. He even criticized George Washington for the practice when he opined, “his character has sunk fifty percent.” Thompson spent the final decade of his life serving in the Massachusetts Assembly with his last election being to the State Senate just months before his death. He represented a kind of radicalism that started the move toward revolution.
May 14, 2025
This was a fantastic book however I understand it’s not for everyone. It is not a McCullough style narrative history and can be a little dry/academic at times. However it does a great job of being a bottom up history of why the average American at the time was ready to support the revolution. It does a great job of discussing the press, evangelicalism, militia preparedness, reactions in the “backwater” areas, mutual aid to Boston after the intolerable acts, and more. To give you an idea, I think I can count on one hand how many times the founding fathers were mentioned by name.
Fantastic book as long as you know what you’re getting into.
Fantastic book as long as you know what you’re getting into.
May 11, 2021
This is a book by a historian for historians. If you are someone who values a suspenseful story, or wants to read more about popular figures like Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, or Hamilton, this is not going to be the book for you. If you are a history lover like me, then you will enjoy this book, it gives great insight into the forgotten and common men of the American revolution.
September 16, 2021
An engaging account of the impetus behind ordinary Americans engaging in the Revolution. Too often do popular accounts of the American Revolution focus on larger than life characters while assuming that the typical American was just a follower. Breen offers a compelling argument for remembering that our founding giants stood on the shoulders of regular people.
October 29, 2019
I made the mistake of getting the audible version of this book but they way it is presented make it way too dry and boring to listen to. I have to think the written version of this book is more entertaining.
Read
September 1, 2022This book demonstrates the extent to which the American Revolution was driven by the people, not so much the Founding Fathers. In essence, the common people led the elites into war knowing that independence from Britain was a much better solution than remaining part of the British Empire.
April 24, 2023
Ah memories, memories My love of the USA began with O level history, and the pre 1776-83 period. But it turns out Sam Adams Paul Revere et Al were not the whole story This book details the breadth and depth of the ordinary people who rose up, and tells their stories...
February 14, 2023
thick academic book
January 26, 2025
Good look at what we know about regular people during the American revolution.
February 18, 2017
An interesting look at the years leading up to open war and conflict. The "cliff notes" version of history glosses over the popular uprising that was required for the war to start. This portion of the independence movement is so overlooked we failed to realize the impacts in the past few wars we have fought. While the events here occur in the opposite order starting with occupation then war there are strange parallels to Iraq. It could be argued we fell into the same hard lessons we inflicted on the British here. The author can be a bit tedious at times offering very in depth personal accounts and more than needed to make the point the overall premise of the book is worth reading and remembering as we look forward into events.
December 4, 2013
There's a lot in here. Ever heard of the Suffolk Resolutions? They negated the law of the Crown about 2 years before the Declaration of Independence. How about The Crisis? The first best seller, preceded Common Sense by at least a year. Putnam's War? Thousands of men took up arms, women made ammunition, and marched to Boston on the rumor that it had been sacked by the English before there was a Continental Army.
This book is about 1774 and 1775. It's about the local committees that formed to manage the revolution on a local level, the social pressures they placed on people to support Their Country, some of it not pretty, but with a universal commitment to be just. It's not about a group of elite thinkers and their profound and timeless quotes about oppression and liberty and the nature of freedom. It's about people who may have lacked the eloquence of those whom history has declared their leaders, but who had a fundamental understanding of the principles they were willing to fight and die for and who lead their leaders into the battle or be left behind. It's also about a powerful country thinking itself invincible.
It's also about charity. Our revolution was founded on it. The insurgents took power from government by the simple act of Christian charity. Relief money was doled out by the Crown. The role of benefactor of the poor and suffering is a powerful role. Turns out when individuals and communities take on this role they undermine the government.
It drags a bit in places. There are, perhaps, a few too many examples of the committees dealing with non-commitment and opposition, and donations to beleaguered Bostonians, but it's all forgivable because, well, it's all so cool.
This book is about 1774 and 1775. It's about the local committees that formed to manage the revolution on a local level, the social pressures they placed on people to support Their Country, some of it not pretty, but with a universal commitment to be just. It's not about a group of elite thinkers and their profound and timeless quotes about oppression and liberty and the nature of freedom. It's about people who may have lacked the eloquence of those whom history has declared their leaders, but who had a fundamental understanding of the principles they were willing to fight and die for and who lead their leaders into the battle or be left behind. It's also about a powerful country thinking itself invincible.
It's also about charity. Our revolution was founded on it. The insurgents took power from government by the simple act of Christian charity. Relief money was doled out by the Crown. The role of benefactor of the poor and suffering is a powerful role. Turns out when individuals and communities take on this role they undermine the government.
It drags a bit in places. There are, perhaps, a few too many examples of the committees dealing with non-commitment and opposition, and donations to beleaguered Bostonians, but it's all forgivable because, well, it's all so cool.
March 24, 2015
The strength of T.H. Breen's book is the author's documentary evidence supporting his argument that the origins of revolution against the British Crown were rooted with the people -- ordinary, or middling, Americans who defied imperial authority after King and Parliament tried to punish the North American colonies with the passage of the Coercive Acts.
Been also explores their motivations and their understanding of political rights. Rather than engaging learned discussions about Lockean theory or Enlightenment thought, ordinary farmers and merchants explained their decisions to defy the Crown through a religious prism, although many were also familiar with more secular strands of thinking. Their actions to take up arms were also driven by emotional and practical concerns -- material loss, revenge, fear. Indeed, many colonists bought wholesale the false notion that Parliament sought to reduce them to slaves.
This was a useful book. Breen wants to refocus the attention on the origins of the breakdown of Crown authority in 1774 -- more than two years before the Declaration of Independence -- on the people. They were the movers, more so than the provincial elites who gathered in Carpenter Hall in the First Continental Congress.
Been also explores their motivations and their understanding of political rights. Rather than engaging learned discussions about Lockean theory or Enlightenment thought, ordinary farmers and merchants explained their decisions to defy the Crown through a religious prism, although many were also familiar with more secular strands of thinking. Their actions to take up arms were also driven by emotional and practical concerns -- material loss, revenge, fear. Indeed, many colonists bought wholesale the false notion that Parliament sought to reduce them to slaves.
This was a useful book. Breen wants to refocus the attention on the origins of the breakdown of Crown authority in 1774 -- more than two years before the Declaration of Independence -- on the people. They were the movers, more so than the provincial elites who gathered in Carpenter Hall in the First Continental Congress.
July 10, 2013
Fascinating account of the events leading up to the Signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. Breen successfully argues that smalltown America had already begun the Revolution as early as 1774. The people we now call the Founding Fathers had to climb to the head of the movement that was already getting ahead of them. Average folks in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas had been practicing successful Lockian self-government for a few years before events compelled them to take up arms against a tyrannical government in England that was almost completely irrelevant to the needs and wants of the American colonists. The Revolution began in the hearts and minds of average people (as proven by letters and other primary sources) before the shots were fired at Lexington and Concorde.
May 30, 2016
The first of what will be many books on the American Revolution that I read because of Hamilton rekindling my middle school obsession with this period in history. Breen examines the role that "middling sorts" played leading up to and during the Revolution. Primarily, they got really angry, really religious, and really motivated, and they spent a lot of time terrorizing Tory sympathizers. Fun! Things I found especially interesting: lots of colonial publishers were women; public opinion was often ahead of the Founding Fathers; people thought the British had destroyed Boston and lost their collective shit; a guy who was not Benjamin Franklin (Goddard) had the idea for a colonial postal service independent of the British-run one that already existed, but it didn't work out and Franklin was given administration of the postal service after.
November 18, 2017
T.H. Breen argues in this book that understanding what made the American Revolution successful requires understanding not simply figures like Thomas Jefferson or Sam Adams, but the spirit of anger and resistance that fueled colonists at the grassroots level. The colonists believed that God gave all of them a set of universal rights and that they needed to defend them in the face of tyranny. After the British instituted the Coercive Acts of 1774, the colonists did this by forming extralegal committees that banned importation of British products and eventually encouraging violence against royal officials. They also spread word of their resistance via newspapers to distant regions. Breen argues his points well and I believe the book will help any historian who plans to teach the first half of the U.S. History survey (as I do).
February 29, 2020
"American Insurgents, American Patriots" by T.H. Breen is a well written book that clearly and precisely defends the idea that the American Revolution was truly a revolution of the people. Breen takes the reader step by step through the first outcries of liberty, to the use of force citizens used to not only remove British officials from their towns but rooted out and exposed loyalists by use of intimidation and force. Before the Declaration of Independence was even begun, the fight was already begun.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to understand the history of America, but also for those who need a reminder that America is a country that was started by the people, for the people. The everyday colonists forced the founding fathers into taking the drastic step of declaring our independence. This book shows step-by-step how that occurred.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to understand the history of America, but also for those who need a reminder that America is a country that was started by the people, for the people. The everyday colonists forced the founding fathers into taking the drastic step of declaring our independence. This book shows step-by-step how that occurred.
February 12, 2013
The book is interesting; it's not about Jefferson, Madison, or Wahsington. It's about "middling folk" who were involved in the build up to the Revolution. It paints another side of the stories we all know.
The downside is that in an attempt to be scholarly, the author (who is a scholar) proves many statements with actual cases. Not a bad idea, but he often tells five or six on each point where one or two would do. It reads slow but you do get a whole new feeling for common people caught in the Revolution.
The downside is that in an attempt to be scholarly, the author (who is a scholar) proves many statements with actual cases. Not a bad idea, but he often tells five or six on each point where one or two would do. It reads slow but you do get a whole new feeling for common people caught in the Revolution.
June 27, 2016
If I hadn't been reading this for a class, I probably would not have finished it. It was a bit of an uphill hike, but like many uphill hikes, it was fairly rewarding in the end. Breen includes many fascinating tidbits from primary sources, and I especially appreciated the oddball nuggets of history-- like when one group of patriots tarred and feathered a loyalist pamphlet, finally nailing it to a pillory for good measure. However, if there were an abridged version of this, I'd probably recommend that instead.
September 7, 2010
Pretty good, but it seemed to drag in the middle. That might have been me, getting distracted.
This is a good job of bringing out the foundations of the Revolution, often ignored by the focus on the Founders and the military action. Before Lexington & Concord, the Crown lost control of just about everywhere in the colonies, without a 20th-century-style bloodbath. Yet another reason I believe in something like American exceptionalism.
This is a good job of bringing out the foundations of the Revolution, often ignored by the focus on the Founders and the military action. Before Lexington & Concord, the Crown lost control of just about everywhere in the colonies, without a 20th-century-style bloodbath. Yet another reason I believe in something like American exceptionalism.
March 8, 2011
Well, I started it but was not entranced with the writing. After the first few pages of explaining that there were INSURGENTS in the colonies that let to the revolutionary war, I got it. But the author kept telling me and telling me that there were INSURGENTS and not every one was like Ben Franklin. So I gave up; the actual stories of these people would have been interesting if just told in a narrative.
August 6, 2014
Hey Professors, if you want to write an esoteric academia work then please feel free to keep it amongst your luminaries and not beguile such a work behind a pretty cover that compels passionate readers of history like myself to pick up a book like this thinking I'll be enthralled. Man was this a dry read. No narrative or prose. Just the facts Mam! What could have been a very intriguing and compelling narrative about the insurgent characters never materialized. This was a textbook.
September 15, 2011
A very interesting and fresh (at least to me) point of view. However, I get the feeling someone (editor, agent, publisher, etc.) succeeded in coaxing the author into stretching a rather succinct argument into book length. It could have either been a nice essay in a historical journal; or even better yet, I would have enjoyed reading the primary sources with this author's comments.
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