On the cold clear evening of December 16, 1773, few, if any, of the participants of the Boston Tea Party realized that dumping 92,000 pounds of Indian tea into the harbor would mark the starting point of the American Revolution. Yet so begins historian Richard R. Beeman’s newest book “Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence 1774-1776.”
Beeman sets the stage for the brewing conflict between the Colonies and Britain, and he recounts the events surrounding the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Not only does Beeman’s book provide historical context, but he also fills in the details of the lives and personalities of the men who were willing to sacrifice their very lives, fortunes, and honor to secure their liberty.
Early in the book, Beeman details parliament’s response to the Boston Tea Party and the unintended consequences of British retaliation. He specifically addresses the alienation of Benjamin Franklin by the British. In the wake of the Boston Tea party, Franklin called the Bostonian’s actions a “violent injustice” — though he had not yet advocated American independence. At the time he was living in England and serving as an agent to parliament for the colonies of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
After the incident, Franklin was summoned to the British Privy Council. For over an hour, officials publicly reprimanded him for the actions of the American colonists in Boston and even accused him of being the main instigator of a conspiracy against the royal government of Massachusetts. Franklin — exercising extreme self-control — remained silent; however, he was a proud man and never forgot or forgave the British officials who publicly humiliated him. Little did the British realize that they had successfully turned Franklin against them and that he would become an ardent defender of American interests and a principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
Franklin’s is just one of the many stories that Beeman tells. The book also recounts the proceedings of the First Continental Congress that began late in the summer of 1774 to the eventual signing of the declaration in 1776. During his presentation of the historical facts, Beeman masterfully illustrates the personalities and the characters of the men that assembled in Philadelphia.
The delegates were a diverse group: their personalities varied from the irascible John Adams to the cold and distant Joseph Galloway, and their professions ranged from wealthy plantation owners to successful New England merchants. Yet despite their differences, they were all skilled statesmen. In a letter to his wife, Abigail, John Adams lamented the difficulty of accomplishing anything in a room full of natural-born politicians.
“This assembly is like no other that ever existed. Every Man is a great Man—an orator, a [critic], a statesman, and therefore every Man upon every Question must show his oratory, his criticism, and his Political Abilities, Adams wrote. “The Consequence of this is; that Business is drawn and spun out to immeasurable Length.”
For an insider’s look into the events leading up to the American Revolution, Beeman’s “Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor” is a must-read. His narrative style brings to life the central figures responsible for American independence. Readers will not be disappointed with this engaging and detailed historical book.
