In twenty-two original essays, leading historians reveal the radical impulses at the founding of the American Republic. Here is a fresh, new reading of the American Revolution that gives voice and recognition to a generation of radical thinkers and doers whose revolutionary ideals outstripped those of the "Founding Fathers."
While the Founding Fathers advocated a break from Britain and espoused ideals of republican government, none proposed significant changes to the fabric of colonial society. Yet during this "revolutionary" period some people "did" believe that "liberty" meant "liberty for all" and that "equality" should be applied to political, economic, and religious spheres. Here are the stories of individuals and groups who exemplified the radical ideals of the American Revolution more in keeping with our own values today. This volume helps us to understand the social conflicts unleashed by the struggle for independence, the Revolution's achievements, and the unfinished agenda it left to future generations to confront.

The meaning of the American Revolution has always been a much-contested question, and asking it is particularly important today: the standard, easily digested narrative puts the Founding Fathers at the head of a unified movement, failing to acknowledge the deep divisions in Revolutionary-era society and the many different historical interpretations that have followed. Whose American Revolution Was It? speaks both to the ways diverse groups of Americans who lived through the Revolution might have answered that question and to the different ways historians through the decades have interpreted the Revolution for our own time. As the only volume to offer an accessible and sweeping discussion of the period's historiography and its historians, Whose American Revolution Was It? is an essential reference for anyone studying early American history. The first section, by Alfred F. Young, begins in 1925 with historian J. Franklin Jameson and takes the reader through the successive schools of interpretation up to the 1990s. The second section, by Gregory H. Nobles, focuses primarily on the ways present-day historians have expanded our understanding of the broader social history of the Revolution, bringing onto the stage farmers and artisans, who made up the majority of white men, as well as African Americans, Native Americans, and women of all social classes.

View the Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction.

"To read these eloquent essays by one of the wisest historians of our time is to be drawn into a remarkable conversation: practical, eloquent, decent, and shrewd. Behind Alfred Young's mesmerizing prose lies dazzling detective work that finds courageous people in all the fullness of their lives, who made a revolution as surely as did more famous leaders. Within the lively stories he tells is also a sharp skepticism of the ways that, over the years, tales of the Revolution have been spun to serve selfish political needs. And throughout Al Young's interpretations there sings a humane vision for our future, as readers of history, as tourists, and as citizens."
--Linda K. Kerber, author of "No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship"

"Drawing on his unsurpassed knowledge of the American Revolution, and his powerful commitment to the idea of 'history from below, ' Alfred Young gives us a stirring reminder of the role of 'the people' in the Revolution. He challenges the orthodox emphasis on the 'great men' of that time, and with vivid specificity provides an analysis which is subtle, complex, and bold."
--Howard Zinn, Professor Emeritus, Boston University and author, "A People's History of the United States"

"The key point that shines through all these essays is how dependent our hallowed Founding heroes were on the shifting political alliances they had to form with citizens of lower economic status in order to provide the leadership we honor them for today."
--"Washington Times"

"This fascinating collection of essays makes a gripping display of the American historian's efforts toconstruct a more inclusive, nuanced vision of the Revolutionary War era. . . . A social historian committed to rounding out our cultural memory, Young includes traditionally marginalized groups (women, the poor, the working class, African Americans and Native Americans), but is interested neither in adding token representations nor in replacing the founding fathers. Rather, Young seeks to re-imagine the Revolutionary War era holistically, and what emerges is not only a first look at key but forgotten Revolutionary players, but also a fresh look at figures like Hamilton, Revere and Adams, portrayed here with a richness and humanity lacking in more celebratory treatments. Although these are serious academic essays, Young's prose is clear and concise, and he judiciously relegates the more technical, scholarly matters to end notes. The result is a work that will be of equal interest to professional scholars and amateur historians. "
--"Publishers Weekly"

"Young assists the construction of a fuller historical picture of the Revolutionary American era by focusing on the common peopleto gain a more complete understanding of the interplay between the political and social elite and these groups.Highly recommended."
--"Choice"

"a][A] wonderfully enlightening and engaging booka].[A]n invaluable resource for history teachers at all levels."
--"The History Teacher"

"The authors stated objective is a more inclusive history that unites perspectives from the bottom up and the middle with those from the top down in order to illuminate the whole. He achieves that admirably while imparting a sense of extraordinariness to the contributions of his ordinary performers."
"The NorthCarolina Historical Review"

"Young allows us a fascinating glimpse of what the long revolutionary period was like for all levels of colonial society. The book, a collection of essays written over a twenty-year period manages to make even the familiar new and interesting."
--"International Socialist Review"

"[A] provocative collection of essays.
--"Boston Globe"

"The key point that shines through all these essays is how dependent our hallowed Founding heroes were on the shifting political alliances they had to form with citizens of lower economic status in order to provide the leadership we honor them for today. . . . It is small wonder that the debate over whether government should be responsive to, or rather wary of, the mass of ordinary citizens remains central to American politics to this day. This book is a valuable tool for understanding that debate."
--"Washington Times"

"In these finely honed essays, Alfred Young brings together more than a half-century of scholarship on the revolutionary era. America's E. P. Thompson, Young has done more than any other historian of his generation to give ordinary people their due as historical actors of consequence. Deep scholarship, lucid writing, and a high-spirited sympathy for the people 'out of doors' are the hallmarks of this massive contribution to our understanding of Revolutionary America. "
--Gary B. Nash, author of "The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America"

With the publication of Liberty Tree, acclaimed historian Alfred F. Young presents a selection of his seminal writing as well as two provocative, never-before-published essays. Together, they takethe reader on a journey through the American Revolution, exploring the role played by ordinary women and men (called, at the time, people out of doors) in shaping events during and after the Revolution, their impact on the Founding generation of the new American nation, and finally how this populist side of the Revolution has fared in public memory.

Drawing on a wide range of sources, which include not only written documents but also material items like powder horns, and public rituals like parades and tarring and featherings, Young places ordinary Americans at the center of the Revolution. For example, in one essay he views the Constitution of 1787 as the result of an intentional accommodation by elites with non-elites, while another piece explores the process of ongoing negotiations would-be rulers conducted with the middling sort; women, enslaved African Americans, and Native Americans. Moreover, questions of history and modern memory are engaged by a compelling examination of icons of the Revolution, such as the pamphleteer Thomas Paine and Boston's Freedom Trail.

For over forty years, history lovers, students, and scholars alike have been able to hear the voices and see the actions of ordinary people during the Revolutionary Era, thanks to Young's path-breaking work, which seamlessly blends sophisticated analysis with compelling and accessible prose. From his award-winning work on mechanics, or artisans, in the seaboard cities of the Northeast to the all but forgotten liberty tree, a major popular icon of the Revolution explored in depth for the first time, Young continues to astound readers as he forges new directions in the history of the American Revolution.

Through an intensive study of party origins in the state of New York, this volume reexamines and reevaluates the whole of the Democratic Republican movement. It will compel changes in present concepts of anti-Federalist and Republican connections with banking, mercantile, land-speculation, and manufacturing interests.
Originally published in 1967.
A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

View the Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction.

"To read these eloquent essays by one of the wisest historians of our time is to be drawn into a remarkable conversation: practical, eloquent, decent, and shrewd. Behind Alfred Young's mesmerizing prose lies dazzling detective work that finds courageous people in all the fullness of their lives, who made a revolution as surely as did more famous leaders. Within the lively stories he tells is also a sharp skepticism of the ways that, over the years, tales of the Revolution have been spun to serve selfish political needs. And throughout Al Young's interpretations there sings a humane vision for our future, as readers of history, as tourists, and as citizens."
--Linda K. Kerber, author of "No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship"

"Drawing on his unsurpassed knowledge of the American Revolution, and his powerful commitment to the idea of 'history from below, ' Alfred Young gives us a stirring reminder of the role of 'the people' in the Revolution. He challenges the orthodox emphasis on the 'great men' of that time, and with vivid specificity provides an analysis which is subtle, complex, and bold."
--Howard Zinn, Professor Emeritus, Boston University and author, "A People's History of the United States"

"The key point that shines through all these essays is how dependent our hallowed Founding heroes were on the shifting political alliances they had to form with citizens of lower economic status in order to provide the leadership we honor them for today."
--"Washington Times"

"This fascinating collection of essays makes a gripping display of the American historian's efforts toconstruct a more inclusive, nuanced vision of the Revolutionary War era. . . . A social historian committed to rounding out our cultural memory, Young includes traditionally marginalized groups (women, the poor, the working class, African Americans and Native Americans), but is interested neither in adding token representations nor in replacing the founding fathers. Rather, Young seeks to re-imagine the Revolutionary War era holistically, and what emerges is not only a first look at key but forgotten Revolutionary players, but also a fresh look at figures like Hamilton, Revere and Adams, portrayed here with a richness and humanity lacking in more celebratory treatments. Although these are serious academic essays, Young's prose is clear and concise, and he judiciously relegates the more technical, scholarly matters to end notes. The result is a work that will be of equal interest to professional scholars and amateur historians. "
--"Publishers Weekly"

"Young assists the construction of a fuller historical picture of the Revolutionary American era by focusing on the common peopleto gain a more complete understanding of the interplay between the political and social elite and these groups.Highly recommended."
--"Choice"

"a][A] wonderfully enlightening and engaging booka].[A]n invaluable resource for history teachers at all levels."
--"The History Teacher"

"The authors stated objective is a more inclusive history that unites perspectives from the bottom up and the middle with those from the top down in order to illuminate the whole. He achieves that admirably while imparting a sense of extraordinariness to the contributions of his ordinary performers."
"The NorthCarolina Historical Review"

"Young allows us a fascinating glimpse of what the long revolutionary period was like for all levels of colonial society. The book, a collection of essays written over a twenty-year period manages to make even the familiar new and interesting."
--"International Socialist Review"

"[A] provocative collection of essays.
--"Boston Globe"

"The key point that shines through all these essays is how dependent our hallowed Founding heroes were on the shifting political alliances they had to form with citizens of lower economic status in order to provide the leadership we honor them for today. . . . It is small wonder that the debate over whether government should be responsive to, or rather wary of, the mass of ordinary citizens remains central to American politics to this day. This book is a valuable tool for understanding that debate."
--"Washington Times"

"In these finely honed essays, Alfred Young brings together more than a half-century of scholarship on the revolutionary era. America's E. P. Thompson, Young has done more than any other historian of his generation to give ordinary people their due as historical actors of consequence. Deep scholarship, lucid writing, and a high-spirited sympathy for the people 'out of doors' are the hallmarks of this massive contribution to our understanding of Revolutionary America. "
--Gary B. Nash, author of "The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America"

With the publication of Liberty Tree, acclaimed historian Alfred F. Young presents a selection of his seminal writing as well as two provocative, never-before-published essays. Together, they takethe reader on a journey through the American Revolution, exploring the role played by ordinary women and men (called, at the time, people out of doors) in shaping events during and after the Revolution, their impact on the Founding generation of the new American nation, and finally how this populist side of the Revolution has fared in public memory.

Drawing on a wide range of sources, which include not only written documents but also material items like powder horns, and public rituals like parades and tarring and featherings, Young places ordinary Americans at the center of the Revolution. For example, in one essay he views the Constitution of 1787 as the result of an intentional accommodation by elites with non-elites, while another piece explores the process of ongoing negotiations would-be rulers conducted with the middling sort; women, enslaved African Americans, and Native Americans. Moreover, questions of history and modern memory are engaged by a compelling examination of icons of the Revolution, such as the pamphleteer Thomas Paine and Boston's Freedom Trail.

For over forty years, history lovers, students, and scholars alike have been able to hear the voices and see the actions of ordinary people during the Revolutionary Era, thanks to Young's path-breaking work, which seamlessly blends sophisticated analysis with compelling and accessible prose. From his award-winning work on mechanics, or artisans, in the seaboard cities of the Northeast to the all but forgotten liberty tree, a major popular icon of the Revolution explored in depth for the first time, Young continues to astound readers as he forges new directions in the history of the American Revolution.

The meaning of the American Revolution has always been a much-contested question, and asking it is particularly important today: the standard, easily digested narrative puts the Founding Fathers at the head of a unified movement, failing to acknowledge the deep divisions in Revolutionary-era society and the many different historical interpretations that have followed. Whose American Revolution Was It? speaks both to the ways diverse groups of Americans who lived through the Revolution might have answered that question and to the different ways historians through the decades have interpreted the Revolution for our own time. As the only volume to offer an accessible and sweeping discussion of the period's historiography and its historians, Whose American Revolution Was It? is an essential reference for anyone studying early American history. The first section, by Alfred F. Young, begins in 1925 with historian J. Franklin Jameson and takes the reader through the successive schools of interpretation up to the 1990s. The second section, by Gregory H. Nobles, focuses primarily on the ways present-day historians have expanded our understanding of the broader social history of the Revolution, bringing onto the stage farmers and artisans, who made up the majority of white men, as well as African Americans, Native Americans, and women of all social classes.

Contributors include Alfred F. Young, Gary J. Kornblith, John M. Murrin, Allan Kulikoff, Edward Countryman, Peter H. Wood, W. J. Rorabaugh, Alan Taylor, Michael Merrill, Sean Wilentz, and Cathy N. Davidson.

Contributors include Alfred F. Young, Gary J. Kornblith, John M. Murrin, Allan Kulikoff, Edward Countryman, Peter H. Wood, W. J. Rorabaugh, Alan Taylor, Michael Merrill, Sean Wilentz, and Cathy N. Davidson.

Lawrence W. Towner, historian and head of one of the country's largest independent research libraries, was also an eloquent spokesman for the humanities. Throughout his career - first as a historian and then as head of the Newberry Library - he developed and expressed a coherent vision for the role of humanities scholarship in American society, voicing the needs of scholars and research institutions while searching for a balance between the scholar's freedom of research and his or her social responsibility. While at the Newberry Library he built and focused its prestigious collections, in his words "an uncommon collection of uncommon collections". He pioneered in the preservation of books and manuscripts, and created major research centers, establishing the library as a community of scholars with a broad outreach to a variety of publics. He established research centers for cartography, Renaissance Studies, the history of the American Indian, and family and community history; the last two reflected his longstanding interest in utilizing underused library resources to develop neglected aspects of history. The essays and talks gathered in Past Imperfect cover a broad range of topics of continuing relevance to the humanities and to scholarship in general. Part I collects Towner's historical essays on the indentured servants, apprentices, and slaves of colonial New England that are standards of the "new social history". The pieces in Part II express his vision of the library as an institution for research and education; here he discusses the rationale for the creation of research centers, the Newberry's pioneering policies for conservation and preservation, and the ways in which collectionswere built. In Part III Towner writes revealingly of his co-workers and mentors. Part IV assembles his statements as "spokesman for the humanities", addressing questions of national priorities in funding, and of so-called elitist scholarship versus public programs. These essays, talks, internal memoranda, and letters capture "Bill" Towner's personality and span the wide range of his experience and expertise. Expressing Towner's coherent vision of the place of humanities, libraries, and scholarship in American life, Past Imperfect will be of interest to anyone concerned about the future of the humanities in modern society.

The eleven original essays presented here serve to enlarge the canvas upon which American history is to be portrayed so that it will allow--or more deliberately, give more prominence to--those groups at the bottom of colonial society to gain more equitable visibility. The effect is a striking view of the Revolution that provides not only a much-needed perspective on the role of minority groups in an era of social upheaval but also presents a panorama of such complexity and vitality that American history itself becomes more meaningful and more exciting than anything we have heretofore imagined.