The Will of the People: The Revolutionary Birth of America

Professor T. H. Breen’s new book, The Will of the People, is a classic. It is a pioneering review of the role of common American people in making the American Revolution successful, and an analysis of why more of them backed the American Revolution than continued rule by Great Britain. This adds entirely new dimensions to what we learned in school. The role of leaders, political philosophy, and military fortitude amidst many early disappointments, were necessary and dramatic, but not sufficient. Ministers in towns and rural areas enhanced basic belief of their parishioners in the worthiness of the American Revolution by references to the Hebrew Bible, in a general but not fundamentalist way. Ordinary people based their beliefs in communal solidarity, liberty, and attendant human dignity on biblical principles and stories. There was neither liberty nor personal dignity in being ruled from afar by a legislature which did not represent them. Once the British position had been characterized as tyrannical, not taking an active opposition to the British offended God and was in terms of the Bible, a sin. The biblical principles first led to loyalty to their neighbors, and acknowledgement of this common feeling from town to town across all the colonies. This also led usually, but not always, to exercising power with restraint and compassion, even after the war with regard to many Loyalists who wanted to regain their homes, farms and personal standing. In summary, while the original colonial rebellion led to revolution, none of this could have occurred based solely on erudite political readings or exhortation. Rather, there was then a fundamental religious element that affected every American, if not church-going, then the neighbor of churchgoers.

Prof. Breen's work examines the essential role of the common people in ensuring that the American Revolution succeeded. It was not just the usual suspects -- generals, politicians, and essayists about whom large histories are typically written. It. was the thousands of ordinary citizens who organized themselves into committees to manage various aspects of the Revolution, including what to do with its opponents. Especially noteworthy are the role of preachers in motivating their parishioners and the relative restraint showed with respect to Loyalists compared to what happened with the French and other revolutions. Written in straightforward, non-academic English. Clear and easy to understand.

This is the American Revolution as seen through the lives and actions - not of the Founders who organized and led the political battles – but The ordinary People who struggled through it and experienced the revolution as a dynamic, ever-changing, life-and-death-challenge to themselves, their families, their property, and whatever ideas they held of a civil society. This is the study of their fight for liberty and its evolving meanings – not in the temple of the mind or the bloody field of battle – but in the home, tavern, town meeting, local court, and village church. This breakthrough book is the missing piece in the previously unsolved puzzle to explain why our nation’s struggle for independence did not become the nightmare event so often experienced elsewhere. The bombshell surprise is that this book reads like a firebell in the night for our own day. Read, think, then share - it’s important.

One of the best books I've read yet on early American history. Seldom do you find a book written on what the "common folks" lived and thought during the war on independence. I mean "common folks" in the most respective way, since most books are on our Founding Fathers, very few focus on what folks in general felt, lived and reacted to the war. This is highly readable, easy to understand, and would make it a mandatory book for high schools and colleges, teaching American history. Author has done a great job and a must have for anyone interested in the history of the U.S.

A different, well researched and well written perspective on Revolutionary history.

This is the first time I have read about the accomplishments of ordinary people—how their assumption of responsibility in dealing with political and economic issues converted a rebellion into a revolution. Their work was anything but cut and dried. In our own time, we can learn from the way they grappled with conflicting emotions and conflicting goals.

This book is destined to become core reading on the American Revolution. Breen offers a fresh perspective on what motivated the revolutionists at the local level.Well written, rich in detail, thoroughly researched.

Really enjoyed this book, which offered details of pre-1776 actions I’d not been taught in high schoolor college American history classes or in later readings.