As part of the Oxford History of the United States series, this volume is a history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic. Beginning with the French and Indian War and continuing to the election of George Washington as first president, the author offers a panoramic history of the conflict between England and America, highlighting the drama and anguish of the colonial struggle for independence. Combining the political and...

In “The Birth of the Republic, 1763—89”, Edmund S. Morgan shows how the challenge of British taxation started Americans on a search for constitutional principles to protect their freedom, and eventually led to the Revolution. By demonstrating that the founding fathers' political philosophy was not grounded in theory, but rather grew out of their own immediate needs, Morgan paints a vivid portrait of how the founders' own experiences shaped their...

The most profound crisis of conscience for white Americans at the end of the eighteenth century became their most tragic failure. “Race and Revolution” is a trenchant study of the revolutionary generation's early efforts to right the apparent contradiction of slavery and of their ultimate compromises that not only left the institution intact but provided it with the protection of a vastly strengthened government after 1788. Reversing the conventional...

From the Publisher: George Mason (1725-92) is often omitted from the small circle of founding fathers celebrated today, but in his service to America he was, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, "of the first order of greatness." Jeff Broadwater provides a comprehensive account of Mason's life at the center of the momentous events of eighteenth-century America. Mason played a key role in the Stamp Act Crisis, the American Revolution, and the drafting...

"Essay on the sources": p. 429-432.

Liberty! brings to life one of the most important and compelling stories in America's history: the struggle for independence and the birth of the nation. New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming's gripping narrative captures the high drama of the revolutionary years and the unyielding courage and political genius of the men and women who imagined a new set of political possibilities for humankind - laying the foundation for the identity...

The history of the United States during the eight years it was governed under the Articles of Confederation.