Peter Oliver's "Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion"

Douglass Adair is Professor of History at the Claremont Graduate School. John A. Schutz is Professor of History at the University of Southern California.

"For anyone seeking enlightenment on the origins and beginnings of the American Revolution, few documents could be more significant than the considered report made by the man who was Chief Justice of Massachusetts during the critical years before the outbreak of the war. In face we have such a document, but it has had relatively little use by historians, and has only now been made available in print... The editing of the Origin and Progress has the excellent quality which one expects of the work of Adair and Schutz... The testimony of Peter Oliver, a very important witness, has at last been made public, and no student of the Revolution should ignore it." The New England Quarterly "Peter Oliver's 'Origin & Progress' has long deserved publication. Now it has got it, in a fine and reliable version produced by two imaginative and resourceful editors." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review "Oliver's appointment as chief justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts in 1771 climaxed a lifetime of active participation in business and politics; his history reflects that experience. It contains incisive portraits of leading participants in the Revolution and detailed descriptions of smuggling tactics, tarring and feathering, jury intimidation, and other disorderly practices. [Oliver's] history is therefore a useful commentary on the atmosphere of Revolutionary Massachusetts; it is also a revealing source on the character of Loyalist beliefs... By perceptively discussing Oliver's choice of words, imagery, and evidence, the editors have demonstrated how a Loyalist source should be handled... In addition to diagnosing these historiographical problems, the editors succeed in conveying to the reader the elements of Oliver's personality, imagination, and intellect which permeate this book." William and Mary Quarterly