The American Revolution Considered as a Social Movement

A centennial edition of the classic work that instilled a liberal spirit into the study of American history

J. Franklin Jameson’s The American Revolution Considered as a Social Movement was among the first books to look at American history through the lens of social change. This pioneering work argues that the most salient feature of the American Revolution was not the war for independence itself but rather the struggle between aristocratic values and those of the common people. Jameson shows how American revolutionaries sought to change their government, not their society, but how, in destroying monarchy and establishing a republic, they changed their society profoundly. He examines the transformative effects the American Revolution had on business, intellectual and religious life, slavery, land ownership, and interactions between members of different social classes. Looking beyond the political and probing the social aspects of this pivotal event, Jameson forces a reconsideration of revolution that still resonates today.

Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of America, this edition features an incisive foreword by historians Michael Blaakman and Sarah Barringer Gordon, who explain the book’s enduring relevance to our understanding of the American Revolution.

Author Biography

J. Franklin Jameson (18591937) was a historian, writer, and editor who was instrumental in preserving the documentary history of the United States. The first managing editor of The American Historical Review, he helped to establish the National Archives and was head of the Division of Manuscripts at the Library of Congress. Michael A. Blaakman is associate professor of history at Princeton University. Sarah Barringer Gordon is the Arlin M. Adams Professor of Constitutional Law and professor of history, emerita, at the University of Pennsylvania.