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The Glorious Cause, by Robert Middlekauff, is a book that describes the origins of the American Revolution. It starts in 1763 and ends with George Washington’s election as president in 1789. Published in 1982 and revised in 2005, it was one of the first books published for Oxford University Press’s ongoing series about United States history. The Glorious Cause has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for History (1983).

The American Revolution started in the 1760s, not during the years of fighting with Great Britain. The book begins by describing what happened after the French and Indian War. After that war ended, Great Britain came out as a naval power and was able to tax its colonies without any problems. However, this caused an uproar among colonists who had to pay taxes on their goods.

The Stamp Act and others like it illuminate a major disagreement between American colonists and their mother country. Americans believe that they cannot be taxed or governed without their consent, while Britain believes that parliament governs all inhabitants of the Empire, whether they live in England or not. The King approves of this taxation policy, with his approval Parliament continues to devise taxes to raise revenue.

Americans were very resistant to new taxes. They felt that they had rights as British citizens, and if those rights were being violated by Parliament, then the colonies would have to fight for their independence. At first, the American Revolution was only about fighting against unfair taxation without representation in Parliament. The Americans also believed that British laws weren’t applicable to them because they were British citizens. Over time, more and more taxes began being levied on the colonists until it became unbearable for them. That’s when a group of angry colonists threw tea into Boston Harbor in protest of a new tax called the Tea Act of 1773. This act triggered an outcry from many other colonists who felt that their civil rights were being abused by Britain, so they joined together with other patriots to fight back against what they saw as tyranny.

The Continental Congress is established because Parliament refuses to give the colonies representation in their House of Commons. This leads to bloodshed, so the colonies must establish a new system for themselves. They form the Continental Congress and begin fighting back against Great Britain. The second time they meet, they declare independence from Great Britain.

The book covers the American Revolutionary War extensively, from avoiding total defeat early in the war, to heroic victories later on such as at Hannah’s Cowpens. With Cornwallis’s defeat at the Battle of Yorktown, American independence is secure.

After the Revolutionary War, when America won its independence from England, it needed to figure out how to govern itself. The Articles of Confederation weren’t strong enough at holding the states together. Therefore, a Constitutional Convention was held in 1787 and resulted in a new constitution that established the United States as an independent republic with George Washington as its first President.

The Glorious Cause is a book about the American Revolution. It offers a wider view of the events surrounding that time period than other books do, and it doesn’t focus on any one person’s account. However, many people are mentioned in this book, including King George III and farmers in Massachusetts. The author also added more details to the second edition of this book about war medicine, women during that time period, American Indians who fought for each side during the revolution, strategic differences between Americans and British soldiers at that time, etcetera.