North Carolina Office of Archives and History

Leadership in the American Revolution. [Library of Congress Symposia on the AmericanRevolution]Review by: Alice E. MathewsThe North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 53, No. 1 (January, 1976), pp. 94-95Published by: North Carolina Office of Archives and HistoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23529680 .

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94 Book Reviews

that here is a superb account of the American Revolution issued by the losing side. If readers wish to buy an intelligently planned and beautifully executed

book for the bicentennial or any other time, look no further. Fate of a Nation

is the best one-volume pictorial history of the American Revolution available.

William S. Price, Jr. Division of Archives and History

Leadership in the American Revolution. (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress [Library of Congress Symposia on the American Revolution], 1974. Introduction, notes. Pp. xii, 135. $4.50.)

In his opening remarks to the third annual Library of Congress symposium, Lyman H. Butterfield quoted John Adams on leadership in a crisis period: "When a society gets disturbed, men of great abilities and good talents are al

ways found or made." While Adams was making a general observation, writers

for the last 200 years have specifically noted the remarkable abilities of the

Revolutionary forefathers. To gain a better understanding of their leadership, to question whether or not it has been romanticized, and to find meaning for

the present generation constitute the basic concerns of the five papers presented at the symposium and published in this volume.

Alfred H. Kelly, author of the first paper, "American Political Leadership: The Optimistic Ethical World View and the Jeffersonian Synthesis," defines

the phrase "optimistic ethical world view" as a belief that man has the ability to solve rationally his social and political problems; a view that has shaped American democracy and has developed a special sense of American destiny. Kelly believes that political leaders since Thomas Jefferson have expressed this view, although it is now in serious difficulty.

The next three essays deal directly with Revolutionary political and military leadership. Marcus Cunliffe in exploring "Congressional Leadership in the American Revolution," often criticized by contemporaries, believes that the difficulties that Congress faced boiled down to the "ambiguity of leadership in a democracy." On a somewhat similar note, Gordon S. Wood in an especially well-written essay, "The Democratization of Mind in the American Revolu

tion," describes the founding fathers as "intellectuals without being alienated and political leaders without being obsessed with votes." An elite not divorced from society, the Revolutionary leaders championed the people and their wel fare. In doing so, they emphasized the importance of public opinion and thus unleashed a "democratic radicalism" that "contributed to their own demise." Don Higginbotham points out in "Military Leadership in the American Revo lution" that "a democratization of military officeholding somewhat analogous to the democratization of politics" was also occurring. The military officer was

just as closely connected with his society as the political leader. Higginbotham gives credit to the military leadership in an area where it is very much due.

The final essay is concerned with "The Psychological Dimension" of leader

THE NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL REVIEW

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Book Reviews 95

ship. Bruce Mazlish defines the qualities that the leader of 1776 needed to

bring the people together and specifically analyzes George Washington. Al

though space limits his probing of Washington's psyche in detail, he draws

some interesting, but not always convincing, conclusions.

These essays provide an enlightening—at times, provocative—look at American

Revolutionary leadership. They indicate that highly talented (although not

always experienced) individuals led the Revolutionary movement, which re

sulted in an increasingly democratic society.

Alice E. Mathews

Western Carolina University

The American Revolution: A Heritage of Change. Edited by John Parker and Carol Urness. (Minneapolis, Minn.: Associates of the James Ford Bell Library [The

James Ford Bell Fibrary Bicentennial Conference, University of Minnesota], 1975. Preface, introduction, footnotes, references. Pp. x, 173. $10.00.)

It is not often that the likes of Louis B. Wright, Staughton Lynd, Elisha P.

Douglass, Jack P. Greene, Michael Kammen, and John P. Roche appear to

gether at the same symposium; but when they do, and are joined by five other

historians of equal stature, the profession has every reason to expect more

than ordinary results. Such expectations, as shown by the publication of the

papers read at the James Ford Bell Library Conference on the American

Revolution where this impressive group gathered, have been well satisfied.

Addressing topics which ranged from Professor Wright's analysis of colonial

motivations and aspirations to Lynd's discussion of Revolutionary discontent

as a precedent for contemporary unrest, the essays presented touched on nearly

every important aspect of the era, and together they give the reader, in one

slim volume, not only a deeper understanding of the changes which accom

panied this nation's birth, but also a unique opportunity to see some of the

best American historians at work.

Happily, though some participants chose more "challenging" topics than

others, the overall result is an even, balanced set of essays without a weak one

in the lot. While a few, such as Roche, Wright, Pauline Maier, and Wallace

Brown, chose to expand on and reemphasize aspects of subjects into which they had already delved, others moved into relatively new directions and may well

have been calling attention to topics which will occupy their efforts in years to come. Yet in almost every case provocative questions are raised; and, espe

cially in John Shy's examination of the problems incurred in trying to under

stand the "mobilizing of armed force" during the war, foundations seemed to

have been laid for new and badly needed topical studies by students of the

period. Space limitations make it impossible to consider each essay, and with the

quality so even it seems improper to single out one or two for special praise.

VOLUME LIII, NUMBER 1. JANUARY, 1976

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