Neil L. York – författare

York illustrates how Revolutionary Americans founded an empire as well as a nation, and how they saw the two as inseparable. While they had rejected Britain and denounced power politics, they would engage in realpolitik and mimic Britain as they built their empire of liberty. England had become Great Britain as an imperial nation, and Britons believed that their empire promised much to all fortunate enough to be part of it. Colonial Americans shared that belief and sense of pride. But as clashing interests and changing identities put them at odds with the prevailing view in London, dissident colonists displaced Anglo-American exceptionalism with their own sense of place and purpose, an American vision of manifest destiny.Revolutionary Americans wanted to believe that creating a new nation meant that they had left behind the old problems of empire. What they discovered was that the basic problems of empire unavoidably came with them into the new union. They too found it difficult to build a union in the midst of rival interests and competing ideologies. Ironically, they learned that they could only succeed by aping the balance of power politics used by Britain that they had only recently decried.

On March 5, 1770, after being harassed for two years during their occupation of Boston, British soldiers finally lost control, firing into a mob of rioting Americans, killing several of them, including Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave and sailor, the first African American patriot killed. The aftermath of this ‘massacre’ led to what was eventually the American Revolution. The importance of the event grew, as it was used for political purposes, to stoke the fires of rebellion in the colonists and to show the British in the most unflattering light. The Boston Massacre gathers together the most important primary documents pertaining to the incident, along with images, anchored together with a succinct yet thorough introduction, to give students of the Revolutionary period access to the events of the massacre as they unfolded. Included are newspaper stories, the official transcript of the trial, letters, and maps of the area, as well as consideration of how the massacre is remembered today.

On March 5, 1770, after being harassed for two years during their occupation of Boston, British soldiers finally lost control, firing into a mob of rioting Americans, killing several of them, including Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave and sailor, the first African American patriot killed. The aftermath of this ‘massacre’ led to what was eventually the American Revolution. The importance of the event grew, as it was used for political purposes, to stoke the fires of rebellion in the colonists and to show the British in the most unflattering light. The Boston Massacre gathers together the most important primary documents pertaining to the incident, along with images, anchored together with a succinct yet thorough introduction, to give students of the Revolutionary period access to the events of the massacre as they unfolded. Included are newspaper stories, the official transcript of the trial, letters, and maps of the area, as well as consideration of how the massacre is remembered today.

Toward a More Perfect Union is the last of a three-volume series examining the Constitution-as it was drafted and ratified, and the uses made of it over the past two hundred years. Each volume includes essays first presented at conferences on the Bicentennial of the Constitution held at Brigham Young University in 1985, 1986, and 1987, and several additional essays written especially for these anthologies.

Toward a More Perfect Union is the last of a three-volume series examining the Constitution-as it was drafted and ratified, and the uses made of it over the past two hundred years. Each volume includes essays first presented at conferences on the Bicentennial of the Constitution held at Brigham Young University in 1985, 1986, and 1987, and several additional essays written especially for these anthologies.

In The American Revolution, 1760 to 1790: New Nation as New Empire, Neil York details the important and complex events that transpired during the creation of the enduring American Republic. This text presents a global look at the emerging nation’s quest to balance liberty and authority before, during, and after the conflict with Great Britain, from the fall of Montreal through the Nootka Sound controversy. Through reviewing the causes and consequences of the Revolutionary era, York uncovers the period’s paradoxes in an accessible, introductory text. Taking an international perspective which closely examines the diplomatic and military elements of this period, this volume includes:Detailed maps of the Colonies, with important battle scenes highlightedSuggestions for further reading, allowing for more specialized researchComprehensive international context, providing background to Great Britain’s relations with other European powersBrief in length but broad in scope, York’s text provides the ideal introductory volume to the Revolutionary War as well as the creation of American democracy.