Will of the People

A prize-winning historian provides the missing piece in the story of America’s founding, introducing us to the ordinary men and women who turned a faltering rebellion against colonial rule into an unexpectedly potent and enduring revolution.Over eight years of war, ordinary Americans accomplished something extraordinary. Far from the actions of the Continental Congress and the Continental Army, they took responsibility for the course of the revolution. They policed their neighbors, sent troops and weapons to distant strangers committed to the same cause, and identified friends and traitors. By taking up the reins of power but also setting its limits, they ensured America’s success. Without their participation there would have been no victory over Great Britain, no independence. The colonial rebellion would have ended like so many others—in failure.The driving force behind the creation of a country based on the will of the people, T. H. Breen shows, was in fact the people itself. In villages, towns, and cities from Georgia to New Hampshire, Americans managed local affairs, negotiated shared sacrifice, and participated in a political system in which each believed they were as good as any other. Presenting hundreds of stories, Breen captures the powerful sense of equality and responsibility resulting from this process of self-determination.With striking originality, Breen restores these missing Americans to our founding and shows why doing so is essential for understanding why our revolution ended differently from others that have shaped the modern world. In the midst of revolution’s anger, fear, and passion—the forgotten elements in any effective resistance—these Americans preserved a political culture based on the rule of law. In the experiences of these unsung revolutionaries can be seen the creation of America’s singular political identity.

The American Revolution involved not simply the wisdom of a few great men but, more important, the passions, fears, and religiosity of ordinary people. This is the sensible point of this important and lucidly written book., Is it possible to have popular government without popular excess? In asking that very timely question, Breen ingeniously demonstrates what the un-excessive American Revolution was able to accomplish—and what it was unable to complete. Revolutions continue today; today’s revolutionaries would learn a great deal from this masterful study., A provocative and timely contribution to our understanding of the American Revolution. Breen shows us a nation-making war that channeled political passions in surprisingly constructive, stabilizing ways. The Will of the People deserves the widest possible audience., The American Revolution was made not just on the battlefields, in the halls of power, or in the minds of intellectuals, T. H. Breen argues in this elegant and persuasive work. Communities of ordinary men and women—farmers, workers, and artisans who kept the revolutionary faith until victory over the British forces was achieved—were essential to the effort. The Will of the People deftly brings their perspectives and contributions into full view., Ordinary people, Breen reminds us, were the Revolution’s true heroes. These men and women made America’s birth possible, and this marvelous book reminds us that it is their example that keeps the Revolution alive today.

T. H. Breen is John Kluge Professor of American Law and Governance at the Library of Congress and Founding Director of the Chabraja Center for Historical Studies at Northwestern University. A former Guggenheim Fellow, he has taught American history at Oxford, Cambridge, and Yale universities and is James Marsh Professor-at-Large at the University of Vermont. He is the author of many books, including George Washington’s Journey, winner of the History Prize of the Society of the Cincinnati and finalist for the George Washington Book Prize; and Marketplace of Revolution, winner of the Society of Colonial Wars Book Award. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and Times Literary Supplement.