In some ways, the Colonies had endured a slow political boil since the Stamp Act of 1765. And with the 1774 Coercive Acts, there came the tipping point. Passions flared, and rebellion ignited. Thus, historian and Pulitzer Prize winning writer David McCullough begins “1776” with a January 14 quote by Gen. George Washington: “Few people know the predicament we are in.”
In take-you-there, play-by-play prose that is anything but boring, McCullough weaves the threads of the Revolution’s foundation. He does not start on American soil, but rather in England, where His Royal Majesty George III insists that subjugation of the colonists is necessary. McCullough emphasized the king’s point of view: “America must be made to obey.”
Lexington, Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill had happened before 1776 began. The Continental Congress commissioned George Washington as commander in chief of the Continental Army on June 19, 1775. By early 1776, therefore, patriots were fully engaged in the conflict.
So that the action described is relevant, the book provides crucial background on pivotal players—Nathanael Greene, Benjamin Rush, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, and so many more. Of course, the key character is Washington. McCullough writes: “The great teacher for Washington was experience.” However, the man who would become the great military and then political leader conveyed humility, which, ironically, elevated his character. After he was commissioned, Washington wrote to John Hancock: “I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.”
Readers find themselves near Boston months before the momentous Declaration of Independence was drafted and signed in July, hearing the “first cheers from the American front lines” as the “lobster backs” were driven out, to “drums beating, flags flying.” In “1776,” readers will enjoy these bursts of victory, but they will also endure the humiliation of the New York campaign losses and the angst involved in risking “Lives … Fortunes … Sacred Honor” on a document that would officially launch a nation.
(For a fuller experience, a companion to “1776” is the illustrated edition with removable historic document replicas: letters, maps, battle plans, and more.)
