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1775 Annual Register

Contemporaneous History of Revolutionary War

Battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill

Continental Congress Publishes "Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms"

     1775 is the start of the American Revolution, with the "shot heard 'round the world" the first outbreak of armed conflict at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts and the Battle of Bunker Hill outside Boston, the first full scale battle of the Revolutionary War.  The Annual Register is one of the best sources of contemporaneous reports and document of the Revolution and was used as the basis for many subsequent histories of the War.   The Annual Register took a more favorable view of the American grievances than the British government and most of England, largely as a result of the influence of its editor, Edmund Burke, who was a member of Parliament in opposition to the British efforts to suppress America (he was also a lobbyist/agent for the colony of New York to the royal court).  That disapproval of British policy can be found in the following excerpt from this Annual Register commenting upon how British policies united the American colonies into forming the First Continental Congress in 1764:

"Such was the unhappy effect of the measures pursued, perhaps somewhat too avowedly, and for that reason the less wisely, for reducing America by division, that those twelve colonies, clashing in interests, frequently quarrelling about boundaries and many other subjects, differing in manners, customs, religion, and forms of government, with all the local prejudices, jealousies, and aversions, incident to neighboring states, were now led to assemble by their delegates in a general diet, and taught to feel their weight and importance in a common union."

 

Below are further samples of the historical text commenting upon the momentous event occurring in America and being debated in England.

 

Below is the chapter summary which includes the Battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill

Below is the critical description of the Battle of Lexington and the "shot heard round the world", here noted as "the first blood drawn in this unhappy civil contest"  and the effect on other colonies of the Lexington Battle.

The book has an extensive description of the Battle of Bunker Hill and notes the bottom line of casualties:

The Massachusetts battles convinced the Continental Congress of the need to organize a military and appoint George Washington as its head, so to explain their actions to the world they issued "The Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms", the start and end of which from this book is shown below:

The book published in 1776 contains much more Revolutionary War news, including the enterprising effort to seize Fort Ticonderoga, which eventually led to the cannons being transported to the heights above Boston which caused the British to abandon Boston.

     This book is an exciting contemporaneous record of the American Revolution which was written and would have been read at the start of the War when the outcome was very uncertain.  It is in nice condition and would be a great addition to a library of early Americana concerning the Founding of America.

Price: $950


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