Rebels Rising Cities and the American Revolution

The cities of eighteenth-century America packed together tens of thousands of colonists, who met each other to debate the issues of the day in back rooms and taverns, on the wharves, or in the streets. In this fascinating work, historian Benjamin L. Carp shows how these various urban meeting places provided the tinder and spark for the American Revolution. Carp focuses closely on colonial America's five most populous cities--Boston's waterfront community, New York taverngoers, Newport congregations, Charleston's elite patriarchy, and the common people who gathered outside Philadelphia's State House. The book traces how everyday interactions in these locales slowly developed into more serious political activity. Ultimately, city dwellers became the first to voice their discontent. Merchants began meeting to discuss the repercussions of new laws, printers fired up provocative pamphlets, and protesters took to the streets. Indeed, the cities became the flashpoints for legislative protests, committee meetings, massive outdoor gatherings, newspaper harangues, boycotts, customs evasion, violence, and riots--all of which laid the groundwork for war.

Benjamin L. Carp is Assistant Professor of History at Tufts University.