The American Revolution Considered as a Social Movement

by J. Franklin Jameson

Overview

This small book, first published in 1926, is comprised of three lectures on the American Revolution considered as a Social Movement, which were delivered by renowned historian and author J. Franklin Jameson in November 1925 on the Louis Clark Vanuxem foundation. In the fourth and final chapter, Jameson sums up and provides thoughts in conclusion.
Proving to be an influential publication, the book expresses themes that Jameson had been developing since the 1890s, and which reflected the "Progressive" historiography. It downplays ideas and political values and stresses that the Revolution was a fight over power among economic interest groups, especially as to who would rule at home.
"This is a small but highly significant book by one of the first scholars of America...A truly notable book, this is, carefully organized, cut with a diamond point to a finish, studded with novel illustrative materials, gleaming with new illumination, serenely engaging in style, and sparingly garnished with genial humor."—CHARLES A. BEARD
"...stands as a landmark in recent American historiography, a slender but unmistakable signpost, pointing a new direction for historical research and interpretation...The influence of this little book with the long title has grown steadily...With the passage of a quarter-century, the book has achieved the standing of a minor classic. One will hardly find a textbook that does not paraphrase or quote Jameson's words, borrow his illustrations, cite him in its bibliography."—FREDERICK B. TOLLES in The American Historical Review
"The scholarship is impeccable, the style is polished, and, above all, the outlook is broad and thoughtful...The author has a keen eye for relationships which might easily be neglected."—ALLAN NEVINS

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787204164
Publisher:	Papamoa Press
Publication date:	04/07/2017
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	77
File size:	826 KB

About the Author

John Franklin Jameson (September 19, 1859 - September 28, 1937) was an American historian, author, and journal editor who played a major role in the professional activities of American historians in the early 20th century. He helped establish the American Historical Association in 1884.
Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, he graduated from Amherst College in 1879 as class valedictorian. He received the first doctorate in history at the Johns Hopkins University in 1882. He became an instructor, and his dissertation The Origin and Development of the Municipal Government of New York City was published in article form in 1882. He moved to Brown University as professor in 1888.
Jameson was a social historian, an expert in historiography, and above all an intellectual entrepreneur and gatekeeper who helped determine the priorities of the history profession in America. He chaired the American Historical Association's Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1895 and became the first managing editor of the American Historical Review (AHR) in 1895, serving as information central for academic historiography. After an interlude at the University of Chicago, he went to Washington in 1905 as director of the Department of Historical Research of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
During World War I he edited historical material for soldiers in their training camps, and published articles in the AHR.
At Carnegie he supervised a series of documentary publications, such as guides to archival resources around the world, documentary editions of the letters of Continental Congress members, documents on the slave trade and slave law, as well as an atlas of American history. He began numerous annual publications and, with Waldo Leland, started lobbying Congress to create the National Archives, the building for which was first funded in 1926. The National Archives organization was established in 1934.
Jameson died in 1937 at the age of 78.

Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, he graduated from Amherst College in 1879 as class valedictorian. He received the first doctorate in history at the Johns Hopkins University in 1882. He became an instructor, and his dissertation The Origin and Development of the Municipal Government of New York City was published in article form in 1882. He moved to Brown University as professor in 1888.
Jameson was a social historian, an expert in historiography, and above all an intellectual entrepreneur and gatekeeper who helped determine the priorities of the history profession in America. He chaired the American Historical Association’s Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1895 and became the first managing editor of the American Historical Review (AHR) in 1895, serving as information central for academic historiography. After an interlude at the University of Chicago, he went to Washington in 1905 as director of the Department of Historical Research of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
During World War I he edited historical material for soldiers in their training camps, and published articles in the AHR.
At Carnegie he supervised a series of documentary publications, such as guides to archival resources around the world, documentary editions of the letters of Continental Congress members, documents on the slave trade and slave law, as well as an atlas of American history. He began numerous annual publications and, with Waldo Leland, started lobbying Congress to create the National Archives, the building for which was first funded in 1926. The National Archives organization was established in 1934.
Jameson died in 1937 at the age of 78.