Rise to Rebellion

Rise to Rebellion

Author	Jeff Shaara
Language	English
Series	American Revolution series
Genre	Historical novel
Publisher	Ballantine Books
Publication date	2001
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	512 pp
ISBN	978-0345427533
OCLC	45835526
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 21
LC Class	PS3569.H18 R57 2001
Preceded by	none
Followed by	The Glorious Cause

Rise to Rebellion is a 2001 book by Jeff Shaara that tells the story of the events leading up to the American Revolution, from the Boston Massacre of 1770, in which Captain Thomas Preston was accused of yelling "fire" to his troops on the evening of March 5, 1770, to the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776. Deeply steeped in history, it is nevertheless a work of historical fiction, relaying the events through the supposed perspectives of various key figures, particularly John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Lieutenant-General Thomas Gage, and, later on in the book, George Washington. Other characters portrayed are Hugh White, Governor Thomas Hutchinson, Captain James Hall, Abigail Adams, Paul Revere, Dr. Joseph Warren, and Major John Pitcairn.

Rise to Rebellion is the first of a two-part series on the American Revolution, modeled after Jeff and Michael Shaara's Civil War trilogy. It is followed by The Glorious Cause.

Plot summary

if your on this page ur a fucking loser and can go suck a big fat dick

Rise to Rebellion is told in alternating chapter from the point of view of various figures in eminent positions prior to and during the American Revolution.

Introduction The introduction provides details about all the characters in the story. It tells about their lives until rise to rebellion started.

Part One- The Right and the Power

Rise to Rebellion

Part I "Suck a Duck"

Chapter 1 Early Spring 1770

• Gage's in New York and sent to Massachusetts to keep the peace.
• Lots of conflicts between civilians and soldiers
• Tories: Loyal to indians
• People begin to gather and Hugh White tries to fend them off, but a mob starts. His order is to keep the peace
• Peace is almost kept by an old man but mob rages forward, troops come, and someone yells fire and people die.

Chapter 2 "What Happened"

• John dams hears the bell and goes to see what happens
• He is assigned to be the law of Captain Preston by Mr. Forrest who says its ok if he doesn’t want to
• Joh and Sam have discussion about what should be done

John says he has duty to law while Sam is hard line rebel Sam is happy because the attention leads to more dissent

• John believes in law while Sam believe the ends justify the means

Chapter 3 "john"

• Gage is in New York
• He has wife Margaret who is also his sister
• She is having a dinner and Gage does not like the little polite courtesies to need to be followed
• He and Governor Hutchinson discuss and Gage believes in marshal law
• Lord Hillsborough is the Lord in London in charge of the colonies

Chapter 2

• Franklin is residing in London and he is a tenant of Mrs. Stevenson
• Franklin likes to feel a fresh breeze
• Franklin is a representative of the colonies and he has a son William who is appointed as the governor of New hampshire*He has wife at home; Deborah and his landlady would get her gifts
• He hears about “massacre” and knows of Sam Adam’s bias in there
• Meets one Samuel Johnson who writes in support of the king
• He and Samuel Johnson have a discussion over the colonies and about freedoms and rights
• One viewpoint is that the colonists would be separate but are so irrevocably tied to the king
• Franklin replies that the colonies have become independent in the sense they have grown and developed over the years

Chapter 5 Early Fall 1780

• Adams has a new child which wipes away scars of his dead child who died before
• He still believes in deliberate trial and says the more radical voices mostly quiet
• Appreciates the calmness in his home and ponders English
• Says problem is that both sides need vengeance, and that there is mutual benefit present

Taxes aren't that bad or colonists can’t buy

• He becomes passionate about it, but is not fiercely anti Britain but is more rational about situation
• October: trial finally starts
• Robert Treat Paine is the prosecution
• Prosecution’s witnesses are confused while Adam’s are less confused and more convincing
• Josiah Quincy is co defense
• Adams uses truth to show the jury that Preston was not certainly the one who fired
• Jury decides innocent
• Preston does not thank but asks that Adams helps his men
• Adams is challenged on the matter of loyalty but still believes in the law and how it can fix things

Chapter 6 Winter 1780

• Franklin receives a visit from his friend William Strahan and receives a letter that Massachusetts has appointed him their representative
• Visits Lord Hillsborough and realizes he doesn’t understand etiquette in Britain
• He does not get approval because Governor Hutchinson did not accept his nomination
• At end of meeting Franklin decides that he is far from the people and must make a decision about whether to risk himself and support the colonies or just keep quiet

Chapter 7 Fall 1781

• Gage is still in New York where English support is strong
• He believes that the king’s tyranny is the only way to discipline the people

Chapter 8

• Franklin goes to Dublin Ireland
• He goes to large towns but decides to visit countryside

Realizes the destitution that people are facing and the oppression of the British Shocked by their mud huts and poverty

• Franklin keeps going and sees nothing more than slaves and sees that all the Crown thinks of the colonies is servitude
• Lord Hillsborough forces Franklin to accept his hospitality
• Realizes America will grow

Chapter 9 Summer 1782

• The Gaspee goes to prevent pirate activity but shoals out and the Rhode Island townspeople burn the ship to the ground
• England bypasses the law of the colony and ships them back to England
• Joseph Warren visits John and Adams and goes to speak and becomes passionate about the injustice the British have done to the law

Essentially joins the Sons of Liberty

Chapter 10 Winter 1782

• Franklin is exercising
• Franklin believes in scientific discovery seen when he revives the fly
• Ben believes in representatives while his friend Strahan believes in virtual representation
• Ben also says the empire is ailing
• Strahan says the empire does not want conflict and one man cannot change anything while Ben says that is the difference: the value of individuals
• Ben mails a package of damning letters written by Thomas Hutchinson

Chapter 11 Early Spring 1783

• The Sons of liberty regard the papers as a windfall
• Adams shows he loves his wife and his family but cannot contain his need to do what he wants to

Chapter 12 Summer 1783

• The Earl of Dunmore takes Gage back to Britain
• Gage’s ego is not sated by the fact no one greets him but wants Margaret to learn to be British and still imagines himself as a great

Chapter 13 Fall 1783

• Hutchinson is shown to be a sympathetic antagonist by showing how the mob has damaged his home, his family and their safety
• Believes in the King as an ally
• Has two sons who he arranges to be Tea Tax collectors

Chapter 14

• Hutchinson supports his sons, but even though the lower tea price and the tax even out no one accepts the tax
• Sam and John pay a visit to the esquire Hutchinsons
• They try and tell them to resign but the British are adamant
• Adams is now resolute and sees the tea ship arrive in harbor

Chapter 15 Winter 1783

• Boston refuses to accept the taxed tea
• Mr. Rotch and Captain Hall who came with the ship Dartmouth meet with the Adam’s and Warren to discuss the ship

The tea cannot be unloaded but Hutchinson refuses the ship to leave port Violence may soon break: Sunk by navy or burned by people

• The congregation of Boston is deemed illegal but the people decide to prevent the tea from being offloaded

Chapter 16

• Captain Hall is fearful of the people and the navy
• The Sons of Liberty disguised as Indians come aboard and throw the tea into the harbor and Hall is oddly relieved and even says to give them a hand
• All tea ends up in harbor
• Boston Tea Party

Chapter 17

• A symbolic passage about two people dueling after all possibly resolutions have been explored
• Franklin realizes that his friend is being accused of releasing the letters

He admits to the public and now Franklin is a target

• He is put on a harsh trial and does not answer hotly and lets himself be flayed

Chapter 18 Early 1784

• Gage is outraged by the violation of privacy by Franklin

Irony in the abuse of people’s freedom draws no outrage

• Gage meets the King and is asked what to do
• They agree that action is needed and George is shown to be an unkind king
• Margaret is not appreciative of England and is still week though she had a baby 8 months ago
• Gage appointed Governor of Massachusetts and sent to keep peace

Chapter 19 May 1784

• Abigail is confronted by one Mr. Hayden who is a supporter of the king
• Adams’ home is shown as the back end of the fiery revolutionaries: what is the consequences they faced at home

Chapter 20

• Gage is angry and goes to Boston
• Tories and British leanings go to Castle William to seek asylum
• Hutchinson discusses with Gage and says he miscalculated and thought that politics would be enough
• Gage reveals he will use marshal law
• Bells have been tolling like a funeral: foreshadowing

Chapter 21

• Adams regrets losing Hutchinson because no matter what he was still from Boston and a Harvard graduate no less
• He thinks about home and how England is unjust
• Other colonies have taken up the Massachusetts cause with sympathy against the king
• Warren reveals that Adams has been appointed to the Continental Congress to represent Massachusetts
• A turning point when the colonies receive quasi*unity
• Adams leaves and many thank him
• Gage still believes in marshal law

Part III

Chapter 22 Fall 1784

• Says good bye to Abigail and says that in many ways the colonies are deficient in education and funds
• Does not know what good can be accomplished
• The delegates visit town after town and the people support them
• Adams is looking for legal minds and law rather than conservative or radical

Sees people tearing down statues of King George

• Fear is that the Congress will not understand

Also hopes that guns will not need to be drawn

Chapter 23

• Plan is not to spit fire but to convince with calm
• Some are conservative
• Fake rumor is devastating but found to be false
• Begins with prayer but then fire builds
• Boston was not destroyed, but rumor is threatening and shows the delegates their worst fears

Chapter 24

• Dickinson and Galloway draw the conservative camp to them
• After a brief comradeship, the delegates split off into opposing camps stalling progress
• The consensus is a resolution rather than revolution and independence
• Richard Henry Lee meets Adams at a fancy dinner
• Lee believes the plan to send a letter to England has no power behind the plan
• Lee suggests there must be another congress and that Colonel Washington is quiet but cares
• Dr. Warren sends a letter right before vote on conservative resolution

Called Suffolk resolves, British soldiers are given any rights and the rights to hostages are ok too

• Colonies have a no importation policy to strike at the economic parts of Britain

Others agree to support Massachusetts if they are attacked

Chapter 25

• In London Ben Franklin meets his friend Strahan but in the end realizes his son will no longer trust him and his friends are leaving him because of his opinons
• He is invited to Lord Howe’s house to offer solutions, but becomes resolved against the pomp and arrogance of Britain

Chapter 26 February 1785

• Dr. Franklin is visited by Lord Chatham, one William Pitt who led Britain to victory against France in the 7 Years

Was popular with the masses but then alienated them

• Chatham asks for Franklin to write a speech to try and prevent war
• Franklin writes with eloquence but eventually the plea is shut down by corruption and the need to appease powerful men

Chapter 27 April 1785

• Gage attempts to buy Sam Adam’s loyalty
• Pitcairn represents the misguided majority of Britain who believe the rebellion to be localized and weak and insignificant, melting at any sign of force
• Gage says he must wait to attack though he seems weak that way
• Major Pitcairn sees Margaret Gage sneaking off somewhere
• Gage does not believe in housing soldiers with common people either, because of inefficiency
• Then Gage receives a letter allowing him to attack from Lord Dartmouth

Chapter 28

• Revere has been a spy by talking with traitorous British officers
• He goes to Gage's wife and she tells him to figure out what road the British will take and to go and warn the British of any possible danger ahead

He is last Son of Liberty still in Boston

• Mrs. Gage was visiting Warren
• Paul Revere goes to Concord waking everyone up along the way

Chapter 29

• Pitcairn goes with 100 men across the water to land in the night to go to Lexington
• Soldiers meet a man spouting things about troops facing the troops but Pitcairn is unimpressed
• Colonel Smith is too slow for Pitcairn so he goes up with ¼ of the men
• They meet but 40 muskets and those men retreat
• The British fire against Pitcairn’s orders and it is a massacre
• Sam Adams and John Hancock are gone while the troops advance
• They arrive in Concord to go seize Barrett’s Farm but they meet strong resistance
• Pitcairn is harried all the way back to Boston
• They are driven away in a rout

Chapter 30

• Pitcairn feels defeated and lost pride
• Admiral Graves suggests they clear the Charlestown peninsula but Gage is afraid of starting a war
• Warren visits Gage to ask for the civilians to be allowed to leave and Gage agrees so long as they leave their guns behind
• Gage knows that new officers will come but thinks that there will be too much vanity coming as well

Chapter 31

• Adams rides into Lexington and knows there will be war

May 1795

• Adams is back in Philadelphia for a Second Continental Congress
• Dr. Franklin is now there as well
• Ticonderoga has been taken by Benedict Arnold and that provides artillery to use

Conservatives are mad

• John Hancock is now president succeeding Randolph of Virginia
• Dickinson makes a last appeal to trust in the King

This is shot down by Franklin June 1785

• More British troops arrive and Abigail sends word to John Adams that the British are attacking the countryside
• Adams says to Sam Adams that revolution is now a necessity
• John says they need a standing army, and officers from all over
• Adams goes in the next day to nominate Washington as the commander and a standing army to be drawn up

No one can find objection except Washington himself

Chapter 32 May 1785

• Gage sees a ship coming in providing for him three subordinate Generals
• William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne

All Aristocrats June 1785

• Gage provided overall plan

Howe seems to care most about embarrassment Clinton dislikes the others but does not trust Gage’s camp Burgoyne has theater but not much strategy

• Margaret does not agree with Gage saying that they ought just enjoy family and give up the town
• Burgoyne seems more interested in a carriage and shopping
• Clinton wants to hit them from behind, but Howe insists on a frontal assault

Says he needs to teach a lesson and fear

• Clinton believes that speed is of essence
• They will use the ships to shell the town and burn it as well as hit the fortifications

Chapter 33

• Warren is sent to help defend the Charlestown peninsula
• Officers come from Connecticut and Rhode Island
• Commanding general is Putnam who is rather inept
• The forward line is commanded by Colonel Prescott who holds a less defensible hill
• The British comes and the famous quote “Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes” comes because of the shortage in powder
• Warren provides necessary leadership and inspiration
• They run out of powder and they fight hand to hand
• Warren dies but they have done far more damage and Pitcairn has died

Part III

Chapter 34 June 1785

• Washington goes to Massachusetts to take control of the army but does not feel that he is not qualified

Cares for his wife and home

• He helped the French and Indian treaty
• Needs to calm himself and his wife
• Arrives in Cambridge with Charles Lee, a coarse speaking veteran
• Sees Horatio Gates
• General Ward gives up command to Washington unhappily and does not believe Washington has the capability
• Made inspections and addressed hygiene

Gage gave the army time to prepare

• Lee says the army is unlike any other because even officers do menial chores and believe in their cause
• Ward’s reports are fake and overestimates
• Daniel Morgan comes to assist, veteran rifles
• Morale continues to rise and Washington uses false information to deceive spies
• He begins to gain influence over the army

Chapter 35

• Franklin is saddened by the difference but is glad his stuff is let through and Mrs. Stevenson may wish to become his wife
• The Congress appoints Franklin to print money as he is honest and owns a printing business
• Worry about money to fight a war
• Dickinson still believes they can make peace and Adams finally responds with fire

Dickinson becomes desperate and only has hope

• The peace petition is signed and sent to London

August 1785

• Franklin goes to New Jersey to talk to his family
• His son does not trust him with his grandchildren and they share little

William is loyal to the king still and Franklin thinks they have nothing left to share

Chapter 36

• Gage will be the scapegoat and Howe will take command
• Gage thinks Boston is a stain and he and Howe agree that the army should be taken to Halifax or New York
• He has been dismissed and sent back to London

October 1785

• Margaret did not want to return to London
• Gage tries to be hopeful for retirement and tries to console himself

Chapter 37 November 1785

• Admiral Graves razes Falmouth
• Galvanizes the need to build an army and throw off British barbarism
• Franklin goes to New England and the army camp to find his sister and to be a representative of the congress
• Franklin reveals the French may help, they sent an envoy Mr. Bonvouloir to the Continental congress
• The Continental Army will try and go and capture British Canada
• The King has sent for Hessians, mercenary soldiers
• Franklin then goes to dine with Adams and Abigail
• Every household pitches in making bullets out of pewter

Chapter 38

• Dysentery struck Braintree taking Abigail Adams’ mother and John’s brother

He considered resigning but his son got better

• They are outraged at Falmouth
• King sends a response to the Olive Branch Petition but that response is that he has not even read it and that traitors will be brought to justice
• Britain has essentially cut its responsibility and Dickinson looks defeated

Christmas 1785 Adams appointed Chief Justice of Massachusetts

• Everyone is scared
• Adams discusses about representative government

Abigail responds to include women as well January 1786

• Adams returns to the Continental Congress
• He is hopeful with so many smart people they will find a solution
• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense is out inspiring people

Chapter 39

• Franklin is in committee to meet with the French envoy Bonvouloir
• Afraid that the French wanted to gain a political foothold or even take over America
• He wishes that he could talk to Strahan again
• Lord Dartmouth has been replaced by one George Sackville, Lord Germain
• Chatham says that there is no opposition to the king’s plan for war in Britain
• Norfolk, Virginia was burned by her own Governor who was fearful of the rebelliousness growing in Virginia and Patrick Henry’s oration
• Paine argues that monarchs are not a good way to rule and there are few good ones

Chapter 40

• The Canadian expedition failed, capturing Montreal but Quebec was a poorly coordinated assault
• Army begins to coalesce into something more organized and supplies have become a steadier stream
• Henry Knox is a bookkeeper turned artillery commander and sent to bring Ticonderoga’s cannons to Boston
• Washington needs cannons on Dorchester Heights
• Martha comes to Boston to be with Washington
• Knox finally arrives

Chapter 41 February 1786

• Ward was second in command but inept
• Henry Knox, Charles Lee, Nathaniel Green, John Sullivan all officers
• Washington needs works to be constructed in one night and siege cannons to be set up

When Howe runs to respond with all firepower, then the colonials will land to take Boston Result in their surrender as they have nowhere to return to March 1786

• Knox bombards the city from a different angle and they drag the cannons up to Dorchester Heights
• The cannons go up on Dorchester Heights but the British load up and leave to New York
• They capture the city of Boston

Chapter 42 May 1786

• There is still debate in the Congress but most of it is gone
• North Carolina colonialists take out the loyalists and Britain seals the colonies off except to British ships
• Almost all colonies take steps to independence
• Hessians shock the loyalist Tories and even they begin to think about independence

June 1796

• Lee makes a resolution to separate from Britain and one by one the colonies accept the need to separate
• Committee including John Adams, Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman and Thomas Jefferson created to draft declaration of independence

Chapter 43

• Franklin knows that they have not won Canada
• William Franklin was arrested and he was the only reason he was not tarred and feathered
• Thomas Jefferson writes a sterling declaration
• Delegates from every part of the country from Connecticut to Pennsylvania allow their delegates to vote for separation
• Jefferson becomes angry that his work is cut down and Franklin tells a parable
• Maryland acquiesces and finally only New York stands in the way

Chapter 44 July 1786

• Dickinson makes his last appeal
• Adams responds saying it is their right to separate
• All the delegates vote aye to independence except New York who abstains to not impede progress
• July 4, 1796 becomes the date the Declaration becomes ratified

Chapter 45

• Washington fortifies New York
• The Declaration of Independence is read
• In a symbolic gesture, a statue of King George is taken down and converted into bullets
• War has began as Howe comes to New York

Afterword