PRAISE FOR
A Peoples History of the American Revolution
Ray Raphael shows that, like the Civil Rights Movement, the American Revolution was the product of local people, not just Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin.
James Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me
This is an exciting distillation of the discoveries of a generation of scholars about ordinary people in the American Revolution.... A very readable, thought-provoking book.
Alfred Young, author of The Shoemaker and the Tea Party
Raphael succeeds admirably in bringing to life the excitement, upheaval, and complexity of plebian Americans participation in the War of Independence. Drawing on a broad array of published eyewitness accounts and displaying a firm command of recent social-historical scholarship, he offers a reliable, extensively documented, and frequently riveting account of how various bodies of the people tried to make the Revolution their own.
William and Mary Quarterly
The unique value of Raphaels work lies in its mining, from extant primary sources, of the extraordinary recollections of ordinary witnesses to history.
Booklist
Raphael... is relentlessly aggressive and unsentimental. He takes the traditional narrative of the American Revolution and shatters it into rough and contradictory but mesmerizing fragments. If a PBS documentary were ever made of Raphaels book, exploding cannons and heated arguments, rather than soothing fiddles, would have to provide the soundtrack.... The nervy energy of this Peoples History is an arresting antidote to the air of self-satisfied triumphalism that so many Americans casually assume each July Fourth.
Fresh Air (NPR)
Fascinating and scrupulously researched.
Seattle Times
He has fashioned a mosaichistory from the bottom upwith impressive skill.
London Times
About the Author
Ray Raphaels seventeen books include The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord, Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation, Constitutional Myths: What We Get Wrong and How to Get It Right, Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past, and The Spirit of 74: How the American Revolution Began (co-authored with Marie Raphael), all published by The New Press. He has taught at a one-room public high school, Humboldt State University, and College of the Redwoods and is currently a senior research fellow at Humboldt State University and associate editor of Journal of the American Revolution. He lives in Northern California, where he hikes and kayaks.
Also by Ray Raphael
The Spirit of 74: How the American Revolution Began (with Marie Raphael)
Constitutional Myths: What We Get Wrong and How to Get It Right
Mr. President: How and Why the Founders Created a Chief Executive
Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, and Reformers in the Making of the Nation (co-edited with Alfred F. Young and Gary B. Nash)
The Complete Idiots Guide to the Founding Fathers and the Birth of Our Nation
Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation
Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past
The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord
2016, 2002, 2001 by Ray Raphael
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form, without written permission from the publisher.
Requests for permission to reproduce selections from this book should be mailed to: Permissions Department, The New Press, 120 Wall Street, 31st floor, New York, NY 10005.
Originally published in the United States by The New Press, New York, 2001
This revised paperback edition published by The New Press, 2016
Distributed by Perseus Distribution
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Raphael, Ray.
A peoples history of the American Revolution: how common people shaped the fight for independence / Ray Raphael.1st ed.
p. cm.
Originally published: New York: The New Press, 2001.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-62097-280-9
1. United StatesHistoryRevolution, 17751783. 2. United StatesHistoryRevolution, 17751783Social aspects. 3. United StatesHistoryRevolution, 17751783Personal narratives. I. Title.
E208.R25 2002
973.3dc21
2002016992
The New Press publishes books that promote and enrich public discussion and understanding of the issues vital to our democracy and to a more equitable world. These books are made possible by the enthusiasm of our readers; the support of a committed group of donors, large and small; the collaboration of our many partners in the independent media and the not-for-profit sector; booksellers, who often hand-sell New Press books; librarians; and above all by our authors.
www.thenewpress.com
Printed in the United States of America
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
For Marie
The research for A Peoples History of the American Revolution was made possible, in part, by a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
CONTENTS
Foreword
Series Preface by Howard Zinn
Introduction
1. Rank-and-File Rebels
Street Action
A Shoemakers Tale
Country Rebellions
Frontier Swagger
Politics Out-of-Doors
Yankees with Staves and Musick
2. Fighting Men and Boys
The Spirit of 75
An American Crusade
Forging an Army
In the Face of the Enemy
Cannons Roaring, Muskets Cracking
Death or Victory
Beasts of Prey
Winter Soldiers
Summer Soldiers
Giting Thair Rights
3. Women
Expectations
A Duty We Owe
Women and the Army
Shaming
Where God Can We Fly from Danger?
What Was Done, Was Done by Myself
4. Loyalists and Pacifists
Choosing Sides
The Dogs of Civil War
Tests of Faith
A Rock and a Hard Place
A Lost Cause
5. Native Americans
Western Abenakis
Iroquois
Delaware and Shawnee
Cherokees
Catawbas
Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles
6. African Americans
The Promise and the Panic of 75
Liberty to Slaves
A Board Game
Two migrs
Patriots of Color
Toward Freedom?
7. The Body of the People
