It’s July 4th, 1774. American Independence is 731 Days away.

The first official episode in our series begins exactly two years before the American colonies will declare their independence from Great Britian. In the small New York village of Orangetown a group of concerned citizens gathered at the home of a local tavern keeper named Yoast Mabie.

These men gathered to express their opposition to the policies passed down by Parliament in the wake for the Boston tea party, but independence was still far from their minds. Instead, they were looking for a way towards moderation and reconciliation with the country that they still consider their homeland.

In this month’s episode we’ll take a look at how the British reaction to events in Boston had the opposite effect from what Parliament intended. Rather than crushing the sparks of rebellion, British policy drove many former moderates in the arms of the much more radical parts of the patriot cause. In the process, parliament created the perfect conditions for exactly what they feared most - an entire continent full of Bostons.

Key Sources:

1774: The Long Year of Revolution by Mary Beth Norton

Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick

Thirteen Clocks: How Race United the Colonies and Made the Declaration of Independence by Robert G Parkinson

The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution and the Fate of the Empire by Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy

Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791 by Richard D. Brown

American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804 by Alan Taylor

Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution by Woody Holton