Table of Contents
Preface ix
1 "In the Very Midst of a Revolution": The Proposal to Declare Independence 1
2 "A Spirit of Riot and Rebellion": Lord North, Benjamin Franklin, and the American Crisis 8
3 "Defenders of American Liberty": Samuel Adams, Joseph Galloways, and the First Continental Congress 52
4 "It Is a Bill of War. It Draws the Sword": Lord Dartmouth, George Washington, Hostilities 88
5 "A Rescript Written in Blood": John Dickinson and the Appeal of Reconciliation 116
6 "Progress Must Be Slow": John Adams and the Politics of a Divided Congress 143
7 "The King Will Produce the Grandest Revolution": George III and the American Rebellion 170
8 "The Folly and Madness of the Ministry": Charles James Fox, Thomas Paine, and the War 198
9 "We Might Get Ourselves upon Dangerous Ground": James Wilson, Robert Morris, Lord Howe, and the Search for Peace 224
10 "The Fatal Stab": Abigail Adams and the Realities of the Struggle for Independence 246
11 "Not Choice, But Necessity That Calls for Independence": The Dilemma and Strategy of Robert Livingston 278
12 "The Character of a Fine Writer": Thomas Jefferson and the Drafting of the Declaration of Independence 294
13 "May Heaven Prosper the New Born Republic": Setting America Free 318
14 "This Will Cement the Union": America Is Set Free 336
Epilogue 342
Appendix: The Declaration of Independence 358
Abbreviations 363
Select Bibliography 365
Notes 372
Index 419