Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution

471 Pages·2002·5.81 MB·English

by  John Ferling

SETTING THE WORLD ABLAZE
ALSO BY JOHN FERLING
John Adams: A Life
Struggle for a Continent: The Wars of Early America
The First of Men: A Life of George Washington
The World Turned Upside Down
A Wilderness of Miseries
The Loyalist Mind: Joseph Galloway and the American Revolution
SETTING THE WORLD ABLAZE
Washington,
Adams,
Jefferson,
and the American Revolution
John Ferling
2000
Oxford New York
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Nairobi Paris São Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies
in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 2000 by John Ferling Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University
Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ferling, John E.
Setting the world ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution / John Ferling p. 
cm. Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-19-513409-5
1. Statesmen—United States—Biography.
2.Washington, George, 1732–1826.
3. Adams, John, 1735–1826.
4. Jefferson, Thomas, 1743–1826.
5. United States—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Biography.
6. United States—Politics and government—1775–1783
I. Title.
E302.5.F46 2000
973.3—dc21 99-089686
To
the predawn fitness warriors, with whom I begin my days,
and
Carol and the cats, with whom I close my days
Contents
Preface
Prologue: “Embarked on a Most Tempestuous Sea”July 1, 1776
Maps
PART ONE
“Distinguished from the Common Run of Men”
Children Who were Fathers of the Men
1 “The Strong Desire of Distinction”
The Vagaries of Youth
2 “Getting under Sail”
The Decisions of Youth
3 “This Desultory Life”
Toward Mid-Life
PART TWO
“Fortitude, Vigour, and Perseverance”
Waging War and Independence
4 “An Epocha in History”
Revolutionaries
5 “To Ride in This Whirlwind”
Independence
6 “Turning the Tide of Arms”
War and Reform
PART THREE
“It Is Impossible to Exceed This”
From Despair to Triumph
7 “A Fatal Crisis”
The Great Peril, 1778-1780
8 “The Womb of Fate”
Victory
9 “Who Shall Write the History of the American Revolution?”
Memory and Meaning
Epilogue: The “Sword” and “Bulwark” of the American Revolution
Abbreviations
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
Preface
The swift appearance of the first histories of the American Revolution eased the
worries of those activists who had wondered whether the struggle would be
remembered. Yet those same histories aroused fresh concerns. Some believed
that the initial historians had told a story that was unrecognizable. Some leaders
had been slighted, or disappeared altogether, while the role played by others had
been improbably magnified. By the early nineteenth century some old
revolutionaries, including John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, had come to doubt
that the history of the great events of their time, as well as the portrayal of the
leading figures in the American Revolution, could ever be fully and accurately
told. Adams once said that the record had been so muddied by self-seeking,
embroidered, and outrightly fallacious accounts that it would be impossible to
write an accurate history of the American Revolution. Jefferson was no less
dismayed. A factual account of the events between 1763 and 1783 was possible,
he declared, but what had occurred in private within the corridors of power,
which he characterized as “the life and soul of history,” was lost forever because
of the paucity of accurate documentation.1
If Adams and Jefferson could read much that has been written in recent years
about early American history, they would be more bewildered than exasperated.
Committed to social history, and shaped by political correctness and
multiculturalism, professional historians during the past quarter century by and
large have neglected the role played by leaders in important events. Indeed, they
often have ignored seminal events. Today the “only creature less fashionable in
academe than the stereotypical ‘dead white male,’” historian David Hackett
Fischer has written, “is a dead white male on horseback.”2
Where once the likes of Benjamin Franklin and James Madison, or epic events
such as the French and Indian War or the Constitutional Convention, received
considerable attention in the pages of scholarly journals, today’s reader is more
likely to read of the plight of urban chimney sweeps or unwed mothers.3
Historical conferences have taken the same route. Only two of sixty-two papers
presented at the 1999 annual meeting of the Omohundro Institute of Early
American History and Culture analyzed the activities of “dead white men.” An
equal number, naturally, scrutinized “dead white women.” These trends are also
apparent in college textbooks. The text I have used in my United States History
survey classes in recent years, one that hardly differs from others in today’s
market, devotes roughly equal space to Phyllis Wheatley and Samuel Adams,
and the section on the woes of the Loyalist exiles exceeds that which dissects the
content of the Declaration of Independence.4
Why, then, a book about three dead white men? Why not go with the flow?
Obstinacy aside, the genesis of this book, in one sense, occurred many years ago
when I was an undergraduate, adrift and trying to find both myself and the
academic major that I had to declare at the end of my sophomore year. I had
ruled out a history major after three semesters of mind-numbing required courses
that primarily involved factual memorization. The last history course in the core
curriculum, a Western Civilization Since 1600 course, had begun in the same
vein when the professor fell ill. Not surprisingly, he was replaced by a junior,
untenured member of the history department. Dr. William Painter tore up the
course syllabi during his first day in class and sent us to the bookstore to
purchase several paperbacks. Two had an incandescent impact on me: Alan
Bullock’s biography of Adolf Hitler and Marcus Cunliffe’s analytical study of
George Washington.5 After eighteen months of pre-exam stints to commit to
memory the Democratic Party platform of 1828 or the terms of the Hawley-
Smoot Tariff, here was history that was fascinating. I found myself puzzling
over what drove these men, why they were capable of leading others, what
choices they had faced, and how they met the test of war and leadership. I soon
decided not only that I wanted to take more history courses, but that someday I
hoped to write like Professors Bullock and Cunliffe.
In another sense, the genesis of this book was an invitation to speak at an
Honors’ Day Convocation at the university where I teach. Having written
biographies of Washington and John Adams, I was researching a biography of
Jefferson, which seemed the logical next step, when I was approached about
addressing the convocation. I was asked to contrast the formative years of
Adams and Jefferson, probably in the hope that the experiences of these
successful young men might provide useful lessons to our students. I accepted
the invitation and began to formulate my address. The results were amazing; a
comparison of Adams and Jefferson, I soon discovered, prompted questions that
I had not previously asked, sent me on pathways of inquiry that I might never
have traveled, and led to conclusions that otherwise I probably would not have