Prelude to Revolution tells the story of a critical event in
America's early history, when a new nation's fate was still uncertain.
Before colonial Americans could declare independence, they had to
undergo a change of heart. Beyond a desire to rebel against British
mercantile and fiscal policies, they had to believe that they could
stand up to the fully armed British soldier. Prelude to Revolution
uncovers one story of how the Americans found that confidence.
On April 19, 1775, British raids on Lexington Green and Concord Bridge
made history, but it was an episode nearly two months earlier in Salem,
Massachusetts, that set the stage for the hostilities. Peter Charles
Hoffer has discovered records and newspaper accounts of a British
gunpowder raid on Salem. Seeking powder and cannon hidden in the town, a
regiment of British Regulars were foiled by quick-witted patriots who
carried off the ordnance and then openly taunted the Regulars. The
prudence of British commanding officer Alexander Leslie and the
persistence of the patriot leaders turned a standoff into a bloodless
triumph for the colonists. What might have been a violent confrontation
turned into a local victory, and the patriots gloated as news spread of
"Leslie's Retreat."
When British troops marched on Lexington and Concord on that pivotal day
in April, Hoffer explains, each side had drawn diametrically opposed
lessons from the Salem raid. It emboldened the rebels to stand fast and
infuriated the British, who vowed never again to back down. After
relating these battles in vivid detail, Hoffer provides a teachable
problem in historic memory by asking why we celebrate Lexington and
Concord but not Salem and why New Englanders recalled the events at
Salem but then forgot their significance.
Praise for the work of Peter Charles Hoffer
"This book more than succeeds in achieving its goal of helping students
understand and appreciate the cultural and intellectual environment of
the Anglophone world."--New England Quarterly, reviewing When
Benjamin Franklin Met the Reverend Whitefield
"A synthetic essay of considerable grace and scope . . . An excellent
overview of the field."--Journal of Legal History, reviewing Law and
People in Colonial America
