About This Book

The year’s best articles from the leading on-line source of new research on the Revolution and Founding eras

The Journal of the American Revolution, Annual Volume 2020, presents the journal’s best historical research and writing over the past calendar year. The volume is designed for institutions, scholars, and enthusiasts to provide a convenient overview of the latest research and scholarship in American Revolution and Founding Era studies. The thirty-seven articles in the 2020 edition are:

The East India Company and Parliament’s “Fateful Decision” of 1767 by Steven Neill

The Molasses Act: A Brief History by Ken Shumate

How the Magna Carta Influenced the American Revolution by Jason Yonce

Thomas Paine Goes to Sea: A Pre-Revolutionary Tale by Jett B. Conner

“Monsr Dubuq,” the First French Officer to Serve the American Cause? by Frederic C. Detwiller

Les Habitants: Collaboration and Pro-American Violence in Canada, 1774–1776 by Sebastian Van Bastelaer

“That Damned Absurd Word Liberty”: Les Habitants, the

Quebec Act, and American Revolutionary Ideology, 1774–1776 by Sebastian Van Bastelaer

Massachusetts Privateers During the Siege of Boston by Alexander Cain

“Under God”: Understanding Its Revolutionary Usage by Brian Patrick O’Malley

The Declaration of Independence: Did John Hancock Really Say That about His Signature?—and Other Signing Stories by J. L. Bell

1776—The Horror Show by Brian Patrick O’Malley

Christmas Night, 1776: How Did They Cross? by William M. Welsch

Captain Lambert Wickes and “Gunboat Diplomacy, American Revolution Style” by Richard J. Werther

The Liberty: First American Warship, Among Many Firsts by Michael R. Gadue

James Willing and the Mississippi Expedition by Jeff Dacus

The “Hynson Business”—The Story of a Double Agent by Richard J. Werther

Death Had Almost Lost Its Sting: Disease on the Prison Ship Jerseyby Katie Turner Getty

Continental Congress vs. Continental Army: Paying for It All by Stuart Hatfield

Patrick Ferguson and His Rifle by Matthew Moss

A Chink in Britain’s Armor: John Paul Jones’s 1778 Raid on Whitehaven by Andrew A. Zellers-Frederick

The Treaty of Fort Pitt, 1778: The First U.S.–American Indian Treaty by Eric Sterner

The Last Vestiges of the Clove Road by Gabriel Neville

Misadventures in the Countryside: Escape from a British Prison Ship by Katie Turner Getty

George Farragut: The Epitome of an American Colonial by Jaume Sastre Moll

Donald McCraw of the 42nd Regiment Wields His Broadsword by Don N. Hagist

Augustine Barrett, Escaped British Prisoner of War, Pleads His Case by Don N. Hagist

Bernard E. Griffiths: Trumpeter Barney of the Queen’s Rangers, Chelsea Pensioner—and Freed Slave by Todd W. Braisted

Revisiting Bernard E. Griffiths: Former Slave, Queen’s Ranger, and “Son of Africa” by Stephen Brumwell

Major James Wemyss: Second Most Hated British Officer in the South by Randy A. Purvis

Benedict Arnold and James Wemyss: Similar Experiences, Contrasting Legacies by Gene Procknow

Retracing Alexander Hamilton’s Steps through the Remnants of Revolutionary New York by Gina Dimuro

Putting a Price on Loyalty: Mary Loring’s List of Losses by John Knight

The Revolutionary Memories of New York Loyalists, Thomas Jones and William Smith, Jr. by Cho-chien Feng

The Day Notre-Dame Cathedral Hosted Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and King Louis XVI by John L. Smith, Jr.

The Constitution Counted Free Women and Children—And It Mattered by Andrew M. Schocket, Kinzey M. McLaren-Czerr, and Colin J. Spicer

America’s Revolution Against Toleration: The Rise of True Religious Liberty by Brian Patrick O’Malley

The Decision that Lost Britain the War: An Enigma Now Resolved by Ian Saberton

Don N. Hagist is managing editor of the Journal of the American Revolution. An expert on the British army in the American Revolution, he is the author of many books and articles, including British Soldiers, American War: Voices of the American Revolution and The Revolution’s Last Men: The Stories Behind the Photographs.

Praise for the Journal of the American Revolution:

“The Journal of the American Revolution is an exciting experiment that benefits from the combined efforts of independent scholars and professional historians dedicated to re-examining the history of this country’s founding.” —Gregory J. W. Urwin, prize-winning historian, Temple University