ABSTRACT
There is no better or more enjoyable way to study the era of the American Revolution than through the eyes and thoughts of those who experienced it. Students of the Revolution are blessed with an astounding amount of primary source material which is readily accessible in print and on the Internet. 1 These sources are a crucial starting point for any serious study of the Revolution. This volume intends to provide students with samples of this material so that they can experience, first-hand, the raw materials which historians use to interpret the past. The eleven chapters in this volume parallel those in its companion, Francis D. Cogliano, Revolutionary America 1763–1815: A Political History, 2nd edition. While each of the books may be read independently, interested readers may read the chapters together. The main text provides an overview and interpretation of key events while the sourcebook allows readers to consider the sources upon which those interpretations rest and to render judgments of their own.
