The Brave Bostonians: Hutchinson, Quincy, Franklin, And The Coming Of The American RevolutionMost Americans are familiar with the Revolution through its defining moments: the Stamp Act riots, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's ride, the first shots fired at Lexington and Concord. These were events fueled by the anger of an array of Bostonians in search of liberty and justice for an American cause. As a legacy of the Revolution, their heroic tales have intimately defined our consciousness as Americans and the sense of history we carry with us today.But there is another side to the story, a story of Bostonians equally brave and as intensely devoted to liberty and justice, who watched with horror as their homes were pillaged, their reputations destroyed, and their lives torn apart. They were the losers, far more deeply than Britain, King George, or a host of British Redcoats. But their story is largely forgotten.In The Brave Bostonians, acclaimed novelist and historian Philip McFarland traces both sides through the intertwined lives of three native, and eminently respected, Bostonians during the turbulent year preceding the Revolution. Thomas Hutchinson, the last civilian governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, stands as the centerpiece of the story. Unfalteringly loyal to British law and order and far from home as an exile in London, he could only agonize over letters and newspaper headlines as his beloved Boston burst apart at the seams. Josiah Quincy, an archpatriot and feverish enemy of Hutchinson's loyalism, drove himself to his own tubercular death in pursuit of the colony's independence. And Benjamin Franklin, the venerable diplomat, scientist, and devoted Anglophile, fought with considerable skill to hold the British Empire together before conceding at last to declare himself heart and soul an American. These three men, each fiercely loyal in his own way to Boston and America, stood in separate corners of the conflict. And each found his own fate.Told in skillful style through the words of those who endured the struggles of the times, The Brave Bostonians brings fresh life to this stirring period of America's past. |
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Page 130
... Elisha soon found them- selves positioned advantageously - in fact , like Quincy , close to the throne . Thus , the ... Elisha , writing his wife afterward in praise of the whole elaborate spectacle , the handsome figure that his majesty ...
... Elisha soon found them- selves positioned advantageously - in fact , like Quincy , close to the throne . Thus , the ... Elisha , writing his wife afterward in praise of the whole elaborate spectacle , the handsome figure that his majesty ...
Page 225
... Elisha longed to be there even sooner . The governor's son was feeling like a prisoner here in London , " with my heart and affections in New England . " The young man's wife was over there , his family , a child born to him since he ...
... Elisha longed to be there even sooner . The governor's son was feeling like a prisoner here in London , " with my heart and affections in New England . " The young man's wife was over there , his family , a child born to him since he ...
Page 258
... Elisha's visit to Plymouth . [ Hulton ] 70 . 40 " Running from a mob . " To Polly Hutchinson ( Elisha's wife ) , 1-25-74 . HDL 1 : 108 . 40 " The grandeur of the ocean . " To his wife , 6-27-74 . HDL 1 : 155 . 41 Miss Hulton to Mrs ...
... Elisha's visit to Plymouth . [ Hulton ] 70 . 40 " Running from a mob . " To Polly Hutchinson ( Elisha's wife ) , 1-25-74 . HDL 1 : 108 . 40 " The grandeur of the ocean . " To his wife , 6-27-74 . HDL 1 : 155 . 41 Miss Hulton to Mrs ...
Contents
Mr Hutchinson | 1 |
Dr Franklin and the Letters | 8 |
A Third Boston Gentleman | 19 |
Copyright | |
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The Brave Bostonians: Hutchinson, Quincy, Franklin, And The Coming Of The ... Philip Mcfarland No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
aboard affairs agent American appeared arrived assured back home Benjamin Franklin Boston Bostonians Britain British brother called coercive acts colonial secretary colonies and mother congress correspondent course court December dispatch earlier Elisha empire England English father February felt Fothergill friends Gage's gentleman Governor Gage Governor Hutchinson harbor hear heard hope House of Lords Jane Mecom January John Adams Josiah Quincy king king's late later letters liberty London Lord Chatham Lord Dartmouth Lord North lordship loyalist majesty majesty's Massachusetts Assembly Massachusetts Bay measures Mecom Milton minister ministry months morning mother country never once overseas Parliament passed patriot person petition Philadelphia Port Act present province Quincy's recent repealed royal Samuel Adams ship soon speech Stamp Act Street summer Tea Party Thomas Hutchinson thought tion Tory town troops voyage weeks wife William word writing wrote young
References to this book
Divided Loyalties: How the American Revolution Came to New York Richard M. Ketchum Limited preview - 2003 |
Divided Loyalties: How the American Revolution Came to New York Richard M. Ketchum No preview available - 2002 |