If their treason be suffered to take root, much mischief must grow from it.” The war was not over and there would be much blood still to shed.īecause of the narrow scope of the book, the narrative does not extend to the close of the war. But so daring and desperate is the spirit of those leaders, whose object has always been dominion and power, that they have now openly renounced all allegiance to the Crown, and all political connection with this country … and have presumed to set up their rebellious confederacies for independent states. “Nothing could have afforded me so much satisfaction as to have been able to inform you … that my unhappy people, recovered from their delusion, had delivered themselves from the oppression of their leaders and returned to their duty.

The closing pages of the book relay King George’s words at the opening of the next year’s Parliament. The object is too important, the spirit of the British nation too high, the resources with which God hath blessed her too numerous, to give up so many colonies which she has planted with great industry, nursed with great tenderness, encouraged with many commercial advantages, and protected and defended at much expense of blood and treasure.” And so he committed his forces to furthering the conflict and to crushing the opposition. “I need not dwell upon the fatal effects of such a plan. George III, King of England, stands before Parliament and declares the colonies to be in rebellion. The book begins in England near the close of 1775. Sponsor Show Your Support Become a Patron Though the American forces managed to avoid full-scale battles, they showed their commitment to the ideals of independence through a series of smaller but still important battles. Yet this year, being so pivotal, mirrors the course of the war, for it began with defeat and retreat, but ended with great victories. Rather, it deals with a small slice of the wider campaign. Though it takes place during the war for independence, and though it concerns that conflict, 1776 is not a history of the war. Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower reminded me of the first days of the American colonies, and I have followed that with David McCullough’s 1776 which tells the story of what is easily the most pivotal, important year in America’s long and storied history. Popular history, books written about periods of the past but written in a narrative fashion rather than as dry history, have proven useful in refreshing my memory. Still, somehow I have forgotten much that I ought to know. This is shameful, really, as in high school and university I took at least two courses on American history and did quite well in them as memory serves. I have only elementary knowledge of American history.

1776 the book