The Home Front
Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Home Front
Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence
About this book
Prior to the American Revolution, the urban centers of colonial North America had little direct experience of war. With the outbreak of violence, British forces occupied every major city, invading the most private of spaces: the home. By closely considering the dynamics of the household—how people moved within it, thought about it, and wielded power over it—The Home Front reveals the ways in which occupation fundamentally upended the structures of colonial society and created opportunities for unprecedented economic and social mobility. In occupied cities, British officers usurped male authority to quarter themselves with families, patriot wives governed households in their husbands' absence, daughters flirted with officers, domestic servants disappeared with soldiers, and enslaved kin absconded to British lines in pursuit of freedom. As Lauren Duval shows, the unique conditions of occupation produced an aggrieved American population bound by shared emotional distress and domestic disorder. In the wake of this deeply disorienting experience, elite Americans deliberately reconsecrated the private home as a national symbol that epitomized masculine authority.
Building on a stunning wealth of primary sources, Duval vividly captures daily life during the Revolution through the eyes and ears of those who intimately experienced it, showing how men and women of all races, statuses, and states of freedom understood its implications for their lives, families, and the nascent American Republic.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Halftitle Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- A Note on Language
- Prologue An Englishman’s House Is His Castle
- Introduction All Our Worldly Comforts Are Now at Stake
- ONE Fire and Sword Was Come amongst Us
- TWO Our Family Is Somewhat Increased
- THREE Very Improper Treatment to a Gentleman
- FOUR Maids Are Become Mistresses
- FIVE A Shameful Scene of Dissipation
- SIX Went Off with the King’s People
- EPILOGUE To Set under Our Own Vines in Peace, Liberty, and Safety
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index