This remarkably comprehensive anthology brings new life to the rich and turbulent late 18th-century period in New Jersey. Originally conceived for the state's 225th Anniversary of the Revolution Celebration Commission.

One difficulty in writing a balanced history of the American Revolution arises in part from its success as a creator of our nation and our nationalistic sentiment. Unlike the Civil War, unlike the French Revolution, the American Revolution produced no lingering social trauma in the United States—it is a historic event widely applauded by Americans today as both necessary and desirable. But one consequence of this happy unanimity is that the chief losers of the War of Independence—the American Loyalists—have fared badly at the hands of historians. This explains, in part, why the account of the Revolution recorded by self-professed Loyalist and Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts, Peter Oliver, has heretofore been so routinely overlooked. Oliver's manuscript, entitled "The Origins & Progress of the American Rebellion," written in 1781, challenges the motives of the founding fathers, and depicts the revolution as passion, plotting, and violence. His descriptions of the leaders of the patriot party, of their program and motives, are unforgiving, bitter, and inevitably partisan. But it records the impressions of one who had experienced these events, knew most of the combatants intimately, and saw the collapse of the society he had lived in. His history is a very important contemporary account of the origins of the revolution in Massachusetts, and is now presented here in it entirety for the first time.

This eleventh edition was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time and it is considered to be a landmark encyclopaedia for scholarship and literary style.

Political History of Americas Wars is the first reference work to explore the legislative, social, and policy aspects of Americas major wars, rebellions, and insurrections. This new volume weaves together important primary source documents, informative biographies, and in-depth essays to provide coverage of the political antecedents, events, and consequences of Americas wars, from the American Revolution to Operation Iraqi Freedom. This user-friendly online resource features: chronological chapters on each of Americas approximately fifty wars, rebellions, and insurrections; in-depth essays discussing Americas colonial period and the Indian Wars, the imperialist era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the modern era of America as global policeman, and more; primary source documents and materials on relevant legislation and congressional resolutions, executive orders, proclamations, court cases, and constitutional amendments; and vital coverage of war-time events and trends including elections and political parties, public opinion, propaganda, media coverage, foreign relations, diplomacy, and treaties and alliances.