A Moral History of the American Revolution

OK, I've gotta get this one. And so do you. See below for ordering information. An affirmative argument.

I'm SO tired of academicians at podunk colleges taking potshots at equally minor league evangelicals such as David Barton and Rick Joyner. And frankly, seeing that crap appear on the front page of this blog.

For instance, John Fea wasted much of his magnum opus Was America Founded as a Christian Nation d-bagging transitory and very minor figures in American politics like Barton, etc. Re-reading it just this morning, the 2011 book seems nearly worthless now, just a handful a years later. In writing a polemic, not a work of history, in service of his politics--against some very lightweight political enemies--he squandered a chance to make anything of lasting scholarly value. [When Historians Attack.]



By contrast, Clemson's C. Bradley Thompson and his America's Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It may indeed prove to be of lasting worth. At least it was written with that in mind:

America's Revolutionary Mind is the first major reinterpretation of the American Revolution since the publication of Bernard Bailyn's The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution and Gordon S. Wood's The Creation of the American Republic. 

The purpose of this book is twofold: first, to elucidate the logic, principles, and significance of the Declaration of Independence as the embodiment of the American mind; and, second, to shed light on what John Adams once called the "real American Revolution"; that is, the moral revolution that occurred in the minds of the people in the fifteen years before 1776.

The Declaration is used here as an ideological road map by which to chart the intellectual and moral terrain traveled by American Revolutionaries as they searched for new moral principles to deal with the changed political circumstances of the 1760s and early 1770s. This volume identifies and analyzes the modes of reasoning, the patterns of thought, and the new moral and political principles that served American Revolutionaries first in their intellectual battle with Great Britain before 1776 and then in their attempt to create new Revolutionary societies after 1776.

The book reconstructs what amounts to a near-unified system of thought—what Thomas Jefferson called an “American mind” or what I call “America’s Revolutionary mind.” This American mind was, I argue, united in its fealty to a common philosophy that was expressed in the Declaration and launched with the words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”

HT: Instapundit.com--

And from Robert Bidinotto in his own words: I edited this book in manuscript, and let me tell you: It’s THE book our country needs right now, to counter the anti-American narratives that have been poisoning generations. THIS is the rationale for, and defense of, America that we have all been waiting for — and that we so desperately need in our time. If you are upset with how the history, principles, and Founders of America have been vilified and vandalized, then you absolutely, positively must get “AMERICA’S REVOLUTIONARY MIND” by Clemson historian C. Bradley Thompson. I am thrilled to have helped edit this magnificent examination of America’s founding, revealed through Prof. Thompson’s deep and eloquent exploration of the ideas of the Declaration of Independence — as they were debated and championed by the people of that era. It is a rich work that will enrich your mind and spirit. Buy it today — and spread the word.

Order here: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07N8FSMYC/wwwviolentkicom