The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution

Rating:
Summary: Informative, but Patriotic Bias
Review: This work is worth the read simply because of the stature of the author. It remains the most comprehensive treatment of the Stamp Act crisis. Morgan's writing is, as always, highly readable. This interpretation disputes the Progressive interpretation that the colonists were acting merely for economic self-interest. Morgan argues that they genuinely believed in the constitutional principles they advocated, and did not simply use them to "get ahead." The writing has an overly Patriotic slant, however, and would have benefitted from information in Lawrence Gipson's "The Coming of the Revolution," which appeared a year after this publication. Students of the era are better served by Morgan's "Birth of the Republic," which covers a broader period and better explains his anti-Progressive thesis. It contains less of the minute detail relating to the crisis, but maintains his argument. I'm a big fan of Morgan's, by the way.

Rating:
Summary: Informative, but Patriotic Bias
Review: This work is worth the read simply because of the stature of the author. It remains the most comprehensive treatment of the Stamp Act crisis. Morgan's writing is, as always, highly readable. This interpretation disputes the Progressive interpretation that the colonists were acting merely for economic self-interest. Morgan argues that they genuinely believed in the constitutional principles they advocated, and did not simply use them to "get ahead." The writing has an overly Patriotic slant, however, and would have benefitted from information in Lawrence Gipson's "The Coming of the Revolution," which appeared a year after this publication. Students of the era are better served by Morgan's "Birth of the Republic," which covers a broader period and better explains his anti-Progressive thesis. It contains less of the minute detail relating to the crisis, but maintains his argument. I'm a big fan of Morgan's, by the way.