Description
Book SynopsisFirst published in 1988, Marc Egnal''s now classic revisionist history of the origins of the American Revolution, focuses on five coloniesMassachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolinafrom 1700 to the post-Revolutionary era. Egnal asserts that throughout colonial America the struggle against Great Britain was led by an upper-class faction motivated by a vision of the rapid development of the New World. In each colony the membership of this group, which Egnal calls the expansionist faction, was shaped by self-interest, religious convictions, and national origins. According to Egnal, these individuals had long shown a commitment to American growth and had fervently supported the colonial wars against France, Spain, and Native Americans.
While advancing this interpretation, Egnal explores several salient aspects of colonial society. He scrutinizes the partisan battles within the provinces and argues that they were in fact clashes between the expansionists and
Trade Review
A challenging new interpretation, well written and solidly supported.
* Library Journal *
This book first appeared in 1988 with a forthright argument about the intersections between political economy and the American Revolution... [and] remains a vital voice amid the cacophonous babble of interpretative approaches to the Revolutionary era.... A Mighty Empire remains a provocative thesis, and it may yet prove to be the building block of a fruitful body of scholarship on the American Revolution. Interested scholars should be grateful to the press for reissuing the book.
-- Benjamin L. Carp * The Historian *
Table of ContentsPreface 2010
Preface to the First EditionIntroductionPART ONE THE FACTIONS EMERGE, 1690–1762
1. Massachusetts to 1741: Three Parties Were Formed
2. Massachusetts, 1741–1762: Coalition Politics
3. New York: Traders and Warriors
4. Pennsylvania: Quaker Party Ascendancy
5. Virginia: Rise of the Northern Neckers
6. South Carolina: Factions Times TwoPART TWO REVOLUTIONARY POLITICS, 1763–1770
7. The Depression of the 1760s
8. Massachusetts: Patriot Alliance
9. New York: Reluctant Revolutionaries
10. Pennsylvania: Challenging the Quaker Party
11. Virginia: Conflict and Cooperation
12. South Carolina: Triumphant PatriotsPART THREE THE QUIET YEARS, 1771–1773
13. The Quiet YearsPART FOUR THE EXPANSIONISTS PREVAIL, 1774–1776
14. Northern Colonies: Antagonists High and Low
15. Southern Colonies: Maintaining Control
16. Beyond IndependenceAppendix. Members of the Factions
Index
