The Creation of America: Through Revolution to Empire

By Francis Jennings

Book Overview

In the standard presentation of the American Revolution, a ragtag assortment of revolutionaries, inspired by the ideals of liberty and justice, rise to throw off the yoke of the British empire and bring democracy to the New World. It makes a pretty story. Now, in place of this fairytale standing in for history, Francis Jennings presents a realistic alternative: a privileged elite, dreaming of empire, clone their own empire from the British. Jennings shows that colonies were extensions from Britain intended from the first to conquer American Indians. Though subordinate to the British crown, in the opposite direction they ruled over beaten native peoples. Adding to this dual nature, some colonists bought Africans as slaves and rigidly ruled over them within their colonies. To justify conquests and oppression, they invented the concept of racial gradation in a system of social castes. We live with it still. In this full scale reconception, the experience of tribal Indians and enslaved Blacks is brought into the whole picture. The colonists were enraged by efforts of crown and Parliament to forbid settlement in tribal territories. Especially Virginians rose under great speculator George Washington to seize the western lands in defiance of the crown's orders. We witness the founders' invasion and attempted conquest of Canada and the "conquest" of Pennsylvania as Quakers and German pietists were deprived of citizenship rights and despoiled of property through armed force and legal trickery. British sympathies were so strong that George III had to hire Hessians as soldiers because he could not trust his own people. And Britain also had movements for reform that won freedom of the press and refusal to legislate slavery while the Revolutionaries tarred and feathered their opponents and strengthened the slavery institution. Revolutionary rhetoric about liberty and virtue is revealed as war propaganda. Illegal "committees" and "conventions" functioned like soviets of the later Russian revolution. The U.S. Constitution was the fulfillment of the Revolution rather than its "Thermidor." The work is meticulously documented and detailed. By including the whole population in its history, Jennings provides an eloquent explanation for a host of anomalies, ambiguities, and iniquities that have followed in the Revolution's wake.

• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: 0965160548
• ISBN13: 9780521662550
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.9" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating!

This is a really revealing book on american history, it approaches this subject matter from a different perspective, it shows that the "revolution" was fought rather for more cynical and materialistic reasons, as oppose to the "abstract" idealism that many were lead to believe...This book is a real eye opener, and many have dismissed it because of some its claims. (Especially by those who have a deeply held romantic notion that somehow all wars are fought on absolute ideals, this book is not for them)But for others who are looking for historical perspective that may be different from the one they were spoon fed in school, then I truely recomend this fascinating book to you...

Get the REAL American History Here

I loved this book! It is the most realistic, no-nonsence presentation of the American colonial story as I have ever see, in or out of school. Jennings tells it like it was, sans the "romance" and "heroics" often portrayed in school texts and by those historians who want to cast a rosy glow on the American story; he portrays the struggle for empire (not just "freedom"), depicting not just the challenges with which American settlers confronted England, but he tells of the struggles between the varied inhabitants of the early colonies, from the landed genty to slaves, from the native Indians to the land-seeking westward travelers. There are stories both amazing and cruel in this book, and Jennings pulls no punches in calling a thief a thief (even if one did become President) and a tyrant a tyrant (even though one became Secretary of State). Jennings' report is told in just plain "straight-up" language, without the usual laudatory embellishments. In the end, I was still proud to be an American, seeing how this nation was put together by real human beings... some heros, some not.The only fault I found with this book was the manner in which some historic episodes and events got repeated from one chapter to the next. True, Jennings may have been casting a new light, fresh discussion, on a previously-discussed event, but this repetition sometimes seem to interfer with the logical progression of the historic chronology Nevertheless, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what reeeally happened in the formation of this nation.

Very important book, should be required in history class

Both of us loved this book and we bought a copy for a friend who also thought it was great. I couldn't believe the 3-star rating it got, but saw one reviewer found it "turgid." We found it an easy read, but we are both college graduates. More important the information and analysis was exciting and outstanding, full of connections and insights that we were never taught in school. Jennings made so much sense of the reality and dynamics of the American Revolution by including the usually-omitted "Indians." Thank you, Mr. Jennings.

Not Your High School American History Book

American history never made sense to me and now I know why. As voltaire said, "History is the lie commonly agreed upon" and that's what was taught to me in school and is now taught to my son. Francis Jennings tries to change all that with a "revisionist history" asking the questions that when posed by students in school are ignored by teachers. How did material progress evolve in a country that was already populated by over 25 million inhabitants? Who owned america? How did we shift from a policy of cooperation with the indians (a la Thanksgiving) to one of aggression. How much of our revolution was political and how much economic? How did relations between colonialists and Great Britain deteriorate so quickly after so many years of harmony? This book is an overview of much that Jennings has written in earlier books with some further thoughts and ideas. What is most enjoyable is that he is willing to speculate, to question accepted fact and wisdom, to go out on a limb, to offer an opinion on various events, characters and situations. For the first time american history became real to me: the people human, the events complex and contradictory, the struggle for independence understandable. In the end a history not much different from what has been happening recently in Washington. The prose can be turgid; parts of it are somewhat academic but Jennings moves the story along and makes for me (a non-historian) very telling points. He left this reader with much to think about. I have since gone out and bought his other books and will be reading those in 2001. A good balancing piece after this book is A Struggle For Power by Theodore Draper.