The once-promising Continental invasion of Canada was clearly headed for disaster by May 1776. With British forces chasing the American Army out of the Province of Quebec, Continental leaders started grappling with the fact that their ten-month strategic offensive in the north had failed. Canada would not be joining the Continental Congress as a fourteenth […] The post Ten Causes of the Miscarriages in Canada: Why the 1775–1776 Invasion Failed appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution ..read more

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR associate editor J. L. Bell about his fascinating detective work in determining the identity of an informant who provided Dr. Joseph Warren with critical information about British plans to march on Lexington and Concord. This is “history mystery” at its best. New episodes of […] The post This Week on Dispatches: J. L. Bell on Dr. Joseph Warren’s Crucial Informant appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution ..read more

It is common for nations to search for heroes to emulate a lofty standard for their citizens. Benjamin Franklin may be unique in that he ascended to the level of apotheosis, not initially from the acclaim of his own countrymen, but from citizens of the country abroad where he functioned as a diplomat.[1] One of […] The post Allegories of Benjamin Franklin appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution ..read more

BOOK REVIEW: Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics by H. W. Brands. (New York, NY: Doubleday, 2023. $32.50 cloth) “’We shall be tossed at any rate in the tempestuous sea of liberty for years to come, and where the bark can land but in a political convulsion I […] The post Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution ..read more

Did Thomas Paine actively write against the American cause after emigrating from England in late 1774 and only opportunistically pretend to support the cause? When Paine was nominated for a Congressional position in April 1777, did delegate John Witherspoon hurl those accusations against Paine?[1] As other delegates were undoubtedly well aware, Witherspoon knew Paine personally. […] The post Was Thomas Paine a Secret Tory? It Defies Common Sense appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution ..read more

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Raphael Corletta  about his recent article on the contrast between Thomas Jefferson’s “Empire of Liberty” and Esther Reed’s use of the same phrase. New episodes of Dispatchesare available for free every Saturday evening(Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web […] The post This Week on Dispatches: Raphael Corletta on the Two “Empires of Liberty” appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution ..read more

As 1776 was ending, a group of about 225 American prisoners was released from the British prisons in New York City to be sent to Patriot-controlled New England.[1] Most of them were enlisted soldiers from Connecticut, but there were also a few from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and several officers.[2] They had so far survived the […] The post The Milford Connecticut Cartel appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution ..read more

BOOK REVIEW: Ordinary Greatness: A Life of Elias Boudinot by Andrew Farmer (American Bible Society, 2022) Paperback $17.95, eBook $9.99. Andrew Farmer’s Ordinary Greatness: A Life of Elias Boudinot examines one of nation’s lesser-known Founding Fathers with particular emphasis given to his career as it concerns his relationship with George Whitefield, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, […] The post Ordinary Greatness: A Life of Elias Boudinot appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution ..read more

On April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren, leader of the Patriots still inside Boston, gathered information about a possible British army march from many sources. Nineteenth-century accounts spoke of hints coming in from a groom in the governor’s stable, a boy who held horses for redcoat officers, a woman who employed a soldier’s wife as […] The post Dr. Warren’s Crucial Informant appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution ..read more

On December 2, 1767, there appeared in the Pennsylvania Chronicle the first letter in a series collectively called “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania.” The anonymous first letter came at a critical time in the growing debate between Britain and her colonies over colonial policy. By late 1767, when the first of the letters appeared, […] The post John Dickinson and His Letters appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution ..read more