Birth of the Republic, 1763-89

In "The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89", Edmund S. Morgan shows how the challenge of British taxation started Americans on a search for constitutional principles to protect their freedom, and eventually led to the Revolution. By demonstrating that the founding fathers' political philosophy was not grounded in theory, but rather grew out of their own immediate needs, Morgan paints a vivid portrait of how the founders' own experiences shaped their passionate convictions, and these in turn were incorporated into the Constitution and other governmental documents".The Birth of the Republic" is the classic account of the beginnings of the American government, and in this fourth edition the original text is supplemented with a new foreword by Joseph J. Ellis and a historiographic essay by Rosemarie Zagarri.


Content

Foreword to the Fourth Edition by Joseph J. Ellis
Preface to the Third Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Lexington Green
1. The Americans and the Empire
2. Sugar and Stamps, 1764-66
3. Peace without Honor, 1766-68
4. Troops and Tea, 1768-74
5. Equal Rights, 1774-76
6. War and Peace, 1776-83
7. The Independent States
8. The Independent Nation, 1776-81
9".The Critical Period"
10. The Constitutional Convention
11. Ratification
Appendix: Basic Documents of the American Revolution
The Declaration of Independence
The Articles of Confederation
The Constitution of the United States
The Bill of Rights
Bibliographical Note
Scholarship on the American Revolution since The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89 by Rosemarie Zagarri
Important Dates
Index