Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Chapter 1. Establishing a Republic Chapter 3 Chapter 2. Implementing the Revolution, 1776-1788 Chapter 4 Chapter 3. The Virginia Ratification Convention of 1788 Chapter 5 Chapter 4. Defending Virginia's Revolution against the Federalists Chapter 6 Chapter 5. "May All Your Dreams Come True" Chapter 7 Chapter 6. "Like Dust and Ashes" Chapter 8 Conclusion: The Road from Southampton
Kevin R. C. Gutzman is associate professor of history at Western Connecticut State University.
In recent years, Kevin Gutzman has earned rank as one of our finest
young historians of the American Founding. In Virginia's American
Revolution, he calls attention to 'the old reality of American
political life that the state was the primary unit of political
allegiance, the chief locus of political identity, and the level at
which most significant political questions were decided in the
Early Republic.' Pursuing the history of the most important of the
first thirteen states in light of this neglected truth, Gutzman
provides a new and valuable perspective on our origins.
*Clyde Wilson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History,
University of South Carolina, University of South Carolina*
Gutzman displays a detailed, even at times sympathetic (though not
uncritical) understanding that many readers should find
particularly worthwhile.
*N-Net, May 2008*
In short, Virginia's American Revolution is not only an invaluable
contribution to the scholarly literature, but it is also a treasure
trove for those who would recapture the original American
republic.
*Lewrockwell.Com*
Gutzman describes how Virginia's independence initiated the
replacement of a monarchical society with a republican one. In the
most important and original part of the book, Gutzman argues that
Virginians ratified the Constitution in 1788 only because they
understood it to establish a nonbinding compact of states wherein
Virginia still controlled its own destiny. By looking at early
national Virginia through a state rather than a federal lens,
Gutzman brings a less celebrated cast of characters to the
fore.
*Journal of American History, June 2009*
Kevin R. C. Gutzman's study of Virginia in the early republic is
the sad story of how the most influential of the thirteen colonies
fell under the sway of a clique of cranky reactionaries and set
itself on a course to disaster. Virginia's American Revolution
might be called history from the middle out. Gutzman has produced a
prodigiously researched and useful account of a stratum of
political leadership that is often overlooked.
*Journal of Southern History, August 2009*
Kevin Gutzman's important new book shows how Virginian patriots
sought to secure provincial liberties and create a new American
union in the Old Dominion's image. Challenging the conventional
nationalist bias in Revolutionary historiography, Gutzman points
the way toward a broader, more compelling interpretation of the
history of the federal republic in its formative decades. Lucidly
written and powerfully argued,Virginia's American Revolution is a
superb addition to the literature.
*Peter S. Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor, University
of Virginia, and author of Jefferson's Empire: The Language of
American Nat*
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