Authors: John Ferling
APPENDIX: THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
1
. The Declaration of Independence bearing the name of John Hancock, and the attestation of Charles Thomson, as it appeared in the broadside ordered by Congress and published on July 5, 1776. See page 342 in the text for mention of the broadside.
The literature on the American Revolution is enormous. What follows is not a comprehensive bibliography but rather a guide to books and articles that I found especially helpful. Many additional works can be found in the notes.
PAPERS AND DOCUMENTARY COLLECTIONS
Adams, John:
Charles Francis Adams, ed., T
he Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author
, 10 vols. (Boston, 1850–56); L. H. Butterfield et al., eds.,
Adams Family Correspondence
(Cambridge, Mass., 1963–); idem,
The Diary and Autobiography of John Adams
, 4 vols. (Cambridge, Mass., 1961); Lestor J. Cappon, ed.,
The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams
, 2 vols. (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1961); John A. Schutz and Douglass Adair, eds.,
The Spur of Fame: Dialogues of John Adams and Benjamin Rush, 1805–1813
(San Marino, Calif., 1966); Robert J. Taylor et al., eds.,
Papers of John Adams
(Cambridge, Mass., 1977–).
Adams, Samuel:
Harry Alonzo Cushing, ed.,
The Writings of Samuel Adams
, 4 vols. (New York, 1904–8).
American Revolution:
K. G. Davies, ed.,
Documents of the American Revolution, 1770–1783
, 21 vols. (Dublin, 1972–81); Peter Force,
American Archives
, 4th series, 6 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1837–46); idem,
American Archives
, 5th series, 3 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1847–53); Merrill Jensen, ed.,
Tracts of the American Revolution, 1763–1776
(Indianapolis, Ind., 1967); idem, ed.,
American Colonial Documents to 1776
, vol. 9, in David C. Douglas, ed.,
English Historical Documents
, 12 vols. (London, 1956–70).
Continental Congress:
Worthington C. Ford et al., eds.,
The Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789
, 34 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1904–37); Paul H. Smith et al., eds.,
Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789
, 29 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1976–2000).
Dickinson, John:
Paul Leicester Ford, ed.,
The Writings of John Dickinson
(Philadelphia, 1895).
Franklin, Benjamin:
Verner Crane, ed.,
Benjamin Franklin’s Letters to the Press
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1960); Leonard W. Labaree et al., eds.,
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin
(New Haven, Conn., 1959–).
Great Britain:
[Anon.],
The Manuscripts of the Earl of Dartmouth: Prepared by the Historical Manuscript Commission of Great Britain
, 3 vols. (reprint, Boston, 1972); Clarence Carter, ed.,
The Correspondence of General Thomas Gage with the Secretaries of State, and the War Office and the Treasury, 1763–1775
(reprint, New York, 1969); Harry T. Dickinson, ed.,
British Pamphlets on the American Revolution, 1763–1785
, 4 vols. (London, 2007); David C. Douglas, ed.,
English Historical Documents
, 12 vols. (London, 1956–1970); John Fortescue, ed.,
The Correspondence of George III from 1760 to December 1783
(London, 1927–28); George H. Guttridge et al., eds.,
The Correspondence of Edmund Burke
, 10 vols. (Chicago, 1958); T. C. Hansard, ed.,
The Parliamentary History of England … The Parliamentary Debates
, 36 vols. (London, 1806–20); David Murdoch,
Rebellion in America: A Contemporary British Viewpoint, 1765–1783
(Santa Barbara, Calif., 1979); Lord John Russell, ed.,
Memorials and Correspondence of Charles James Fox
(reprint, New York, 1970).
Jefferson, Thomas:
Julian P. Boyd et al., eds.,
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson
(Princeton, N.J., 1950–); Lestor J. Cappon, ed.,
The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams
, 2 vols. (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1961); Paul Leicester Ford, ed.,
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
, 10 vols. (New York, 1892–99); A. A. Lipscomb and A. E. Bergh, eds.,
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
, 20 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1900–1904); Saul K. Padover, ed.,
The Complete Jefferson
(New York, 1943).
Paine, Thomas:
Philip S. Foner, ed.,
The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine
, 2 vols. (New York, 1945).
Rodney, Caesar:
George Herbert Ryden, ed.,
Letters to and from Caesar Rodney
(reprint, New York, 1970).
Washington, George:
W. W. Abbot et al., eds.,
The Papers of George Washington: Colonial Series
, 10 vols. (Charlottesville, Va., 1983–95); idem,
The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series
(Charlottesville, Va., 1985–); Donald Jackson et al., eds.,
The Diaries of George Washington,
6 vols. (Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79).
SECONDARY SOURCES
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
John Richard Alden,
The American Revolution, 1775–1783
(New York, 1954); David Ammerman,
In the Common Cause: American Response to the Coercive Acts of 1774
(Charlottesville, Va., 1974); Richard Archer,
As If an Enemy’s Country
(New York, 2010); Bernard Bailyn,
The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
(Cambridge, Mass., 1967); idem,
The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson
(Cambridge, Mass., 1974); T. H. Breen,
American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People
(New York, 2010); Weldon Brown,
Empire or Independence: A Study in the Failure of Reconciliation, 1774–1783
(Baton Rouge, La., 1941); Benjamin Carp,
Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America
(New Haven, Conn., 2010); idem,
Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution
(New York, 2007); Ian Christie and Benjamin Labaree,
Empire or Independence: A British-American Dialogue on the Coming of the American Revolution
(New York, 1976); H. Trevor Colbourne,
The Lamp of Experience: Whig History and the Intellectual Origins of the American Revolution
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1965); Edward Countryman,
The American Revolution
(New York, 1983); Philip Davidson,
Propaganda and the American Revolution, 1763–1776
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1941); Jonathan Dull,
A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution
(New Haven, Conn., 1985); John Ferling,
A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic
(New York, 2003); Jay Fliegelman,
Prodigals and Pilgrims: The American Revolution Against Patriarchal Authority
(New York, 1982); Jack P. Greene, “An Uneasy Connection: An Analysis of the Preconditions of the American Revolution,” in Stephen G. Kurtz and James H. Hutson, eds.,
Essays on the American Revolution
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1973); William Hogeland,
Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1–July 4, 1776
(New York, 2010); James H. Hutson, “The Partition Treaty and the Declaration of Independence,”
Journal of American History
58 (1972): 877–96; Merrill Jensen,
The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution
(New York, 1967); Milton Klein, “Failure of a Mission: The Drummond Peace Proposal of 1775,”
Huntington Library Quarterly
35 (1972): 343–80; Benjamin Woods Labaree,
The Boston Tea Party
(New York, 1964); Brendan McConville,
The King’s Three Faces: The Rise and Fall of Royal America, 1688–1776
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2006); Robert Middlekauff,
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789
(revised edition, New York, 2007); Pauline Maier,
From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of Opposition to Great Britain, 1765–1776
(New York, 1972); Philip James McFarland,
The Brave Bostonians: Hutchinson, Quincy, Franklin, and the Coming of the American Revolution
(Boulder, Colo., 1998); Jack N. Rakove,
Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America
(Boston, 2010); Ray Raphael,
Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation
(New York, 2009); idem,
The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord
(New York, 2002); Arthur M. Schlesinger,
Prelude to Independence: The Newspaper War of Britain, 1764–1776
(New York, 1966); Richard van Alstyne,
The Rising American Empire
(Oxford, 1960); Stanley Weintraub,
Iron Tears: America’s Battle for Freedom, Britain’s Quagmire, 1775–1783
(New York, 2005); Gordon S. Wood,
The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787
(New York, 1969); idem,
The Radicalism of the American Revolution
(New York, 1992); Hiller B. Zobel,
The Boston Massacre
(New York, 1970).
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
Edmund C. Burnett,
The Continental Congress
(New York, 1941); H. James Henderson,
Party Politics in the Continental Congress
(New York, 1974); Jerrilyn Greene Marston,
King and Congress: The Transfer of Political Legitimacy, 1774–1776
(Princeton, N.J., 1987); Jack N. Rakove,
The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress
(Baltimore, Md., 1982).
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND ITS HISTORY
George Anastaplo, “The Declaration of Independence,”
Saint Louis University Law Journal
9 (1964–65): 390–415; Carl Becker,
The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas
(New York, 1960); Julian P. Boyd,
The Declaration of Independence: The Evolution of the Text as Shown in Facsimilies of Various Drafts by Its Author
(Washington, D.C., 1943); J. M. Bumstead, “ ’Things in the Womb of Time’: Ideas of American Independence, 1633–1763,”
William and Mary Quarterly
31 (1974): 533–64; Philip F. Detweiler, “The Changing Reputation of the Declaration of Independence: The First Fifty Years,”
William and Mary Quarterly
, 3d series, 19 (1962): 558–85; Edward Dumbauld,
The Declaration of Independence and What It Means Today
(Norman, Okla., 1950); Jay Fliegelman,
Declaring Independence: Jefferson, Natural Language, and the Culture of Performance
(Stanford, Calif., 1993); Herbert Friedenwald,
The Declaration of Independence: An Interpretation and an Analysis
(New York, 1904); Herbert Lawrence Ganter, “Jefferson’s ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ and Some Forgotten Men,”
William and Mary Quarterly
, 2d series, 16 (1936): 422–34, 558–85; David Hawke,
Honorable Treason: The Declaration of Independence and the Men Who Signed It
(New York, 1976); idem,
A Transaction of Free Men: The Birth and Course of the Declaration of Independence
(New York, 1964); John Hazleton,
The Declaration of Independence: Its History
(New York, 1906); Stephen E. Lucas, “Justifying America: The Declaration of Independence as a Rhetorical Document,” in Thomas W. Benson, ed.,
American Rhetoric: Context and Criticism
(Carbondale, Ill., 1989); Pauline Maier,
American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence
(New York, 1998); David C. Mearns,
The Declaration of Independence: The Story of a Parchment
(Washington, D.C., 1950); Peter S. Onuf, “A Declaration of Independence for Diplomatic Historians,” in Peter S. Onuf, ed.,
The Mind of Thomas Jefferson
(Charlottesville, Va., 2007); John Philip Reid, “The Irrelevance of the Declaration,” in Hendrik Hartog, ed.,
Law in the American Revolution and the Revolution in Law
(New York, 1981); Eric Slauter, “The Declaration of Independence and the New Nation,” in Frank Shuffelton, ed.,
The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Jefferson
(Cambridge, 2009); Garry Wills,
Inventing America: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence
(Garden City, N.Y., 1978).