Description
Book SynopsisThe Clamor of Lawyers explores a series of extended public pronouncements that British North American colonial lawyers crafted between 1761 and 1776. Most, though not all, were composed outside of the courtroom and detached from on-going litigation. While they have been studied as political theory, these writings and speeches are rarely viewed as the work of active lawyers, despite the fact that key protagonists in the story of American independence were members of the bar with extensive practices. The American Revolution was, in fact, a lawyers' revolution.
Peter Charles Hoffer and Williamjames Hull Hoffer broaden our understanding of the role that lawyers played in framing and resolving the British imperial crisis. The revolutionary lawyers, including John Adams's idol James Otis, Jr., Pennsylvania's John Dickinson, and Virginians Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, along with Adams and others, deployed the skills of their profession to further the public welfare in c
Trade Review
A slim but elegant volume.... There is surely a lesson for the legal community in this volume's reflection on the revolutionary role of legal argumentation in the country's founding.
* Law360 *
Looking at arguments of lawyers throughout the period, Hoffer and Hoffer contend that the American Revolution was a lawyer's revolution.... The book ends with a good set of notes and a detailed source listing, which will... make it useful for libraries.
* Choice *
The Clamor of Lawyers brings the Revolution to life through the chronicles of a series of public pronouncements made between 1761 and 1782.... Efficient and entertaining, the authors' telling of the American Revolution breathes life into the interaction between loyalist and revolutionary lawyers whose public discourse has served as the foundation of American governance.
* Harvard Law Review *
In The Clamor of Lawyers, Peter and Williamjames Hoffer – father and son legal historians – examine a series of public writings and speeches made by colonial lawyers in the years 1761 to 1782.
* Comparative Legal History *
This is an important and welcome contribution to our understanding of the revolutionary period and how arguments were shaped and reshaped by those trained in the law.
* The Journal of American History *
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction: A Lawyer's Revolution
1. "The Worst Instrument of Arbitrary Power"
2. "The Alienation of the Affection of the Colonies"
3. "My Dear Countrymen Rouse Yourselves"
4. "A Right Which Nature Has Given to All Men"
5. "That These Colonies Are...Free and Independent States"
Conclusion: The Legacy of the Lawyers' American Revolution
Notes
A Note on Sources
Index
