The American Revolution ─ Writings from the Pamphlet Debate, 1764-1776

For the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution, acclaimed historian Gordon S. Wood presents a landmark collection of British and American pamphlets from the political debate that divided an empire and created a nation:In 1764, in the wake of its triumph in the Seven Years War, Great Britain possessed the largest and most powerful empire the world had seen since the fall of Rome and its North American colonists were justly proud of their vital place within this global colossus. Just twelve short years later the empire was in tatters, and the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves the free and independent United States of America. Now, for the 250th anniversary of the Stamp Act Crisis, the momentous upheaval that marked the beginning of the American Revolution, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon S. Wood presents a landmark two-volume edition of the extraordinary political debate that led to independence. A contest of words between Americans and Britons and among the colonists themselves, this debate was carried on largely in inexpensive pamphlets—the galvanizing medium of their day. Those concerned with the American controversy number well over a thousand, and they cover all of the most fundamental concerns of politics—the nature of power, liberty, representation, rights and constitutions, the division of authority between different spheres of government, and sovereignty.

This unprecedented collection gathers in two authoritative Library of America volumes the full texts of thirty-nine of the most fascinating and important of these works, including pamphlets by Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Johnson, and Edmund Burke. Here, in its entirety, is John Dickinson’s justly famous Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, the most significant political tract prior to Thomas Paine’sCommon Sense, which is also included. Here too is the dramatic transcript of Benjamin Franklin’s testimony before Parliament as it debated repeal of the Stamp Act. By the time the political contest traced in these volumes was over, Americans had not only clarified their understanding of the limits of public power, they had prepared the way for their grand experiment in republican self-government and constitution-making. Each volume includes an introduction, headnotes, a chronology of events, biographical notes about the writers, and detailed explanatory notes, all prepared by our leading expert on the American Revolution. As a special feature, each pamphlet is preceded by a typographic reproduction of its original title page.