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motives, and talents who could not see the future with the clarity with which we can see the past.
    This is not a history of the American Revolution. While it looks at the Anglo-American crisis from its inception down to the Declaration of Independence, the book largely examines the forty-month period between the Boston Tea Party, in December 1773, and Congress’s vote for independence, in July 1776. Its objective is to understand the major players on both sides, what drove them, the choices they faced, their successes and failures, and, above all, why the American Congress moved steadily—seemingly inexorably—toward a final break with Great Britain.
    Debts accumulate in the course of writing any book. I am particularly grateful to Matt deLesdernier and James Sefcik for reading the manuscript, pointing out errors, and offering guidance. Four good friends—Edith Gelles, Michael deNie, Keith Pacholl, and Arthur Lefkowitz—answered many questions that I posed. Lorene Flanders graciously found places for me to work in a library that was undergoing a major renovation during much of the time that I was writing the book. Angela Mehaffey and her staff in the Interlibrary Loan Office of the Irvine Sullivan Ingram Library at the University of West Georgia cordially met my rapacious requests for books and articles. Elmira Eidson helped me out of numerous scrapes with my computer and word processing program. Nathaniel Knaebel was an understanding, easy-to-work-with production editor. No author ever had a better copyeditor than Maureen Klier.
    Geri Thoma was crucial in the realization of my dream to write the book. Peter Beatty helped in many ways to bring the book to completion, all the while listening to my tales of woe about the Pittsburgh Pirates. This is my sixth book with Peter Ginna, a masterful editor who unfailingly provides encouragement, criticism, and a storehouse of wonderful ideas.
    As always, Carol, my wife, encouraged and supported my work, and she joined with me in our annual cookout to celebrate Independence Day on July 2 (yes, July 2—see chapters thirteen and fourteen).
    November 12, 2010

A BBREVIATIONS
AA
Abigail Adams
AFC
L. H. Butterfield et al., eds. Adams Family Correspondence . Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963–.
Am Archives 4th series
Peter Force, ed. American Archives . 4th series. 6 vols. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1837–1846.
Am Archives 5th series
Peter Force, ed. American Archives , 5th series. 3 vols. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1847–1853.
BF
Benjamin Franklin
DAJA
L. H. Butterfield et al., eds. The Diary and Autobiography of John Adams. 4 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1961.
DAR
K. G. Davies, ed. Documents of the American Revolution . Dublin: Irish University Press, 1972–1981.
DGW
Donald Jackson et al., eds. The Diaries of George Washington . Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976–1979.
EHD
David C. Douglas et al., eds. English Historical Documents . London: Eyre & Spottiswoode (Publishers) Ltd.; and New York: Oxford University Press, 1956–.
GW
George Washington
JA
John Adams
JCC
Worthington C. Ford et al., eds. The Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–89 . 34 vols. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1904–1937.
LDC
Paul H. Smith et al., eds. Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–89 . 29 vols. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976–2000.
PBF
Leonard W. Labaree et al., eds. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin . New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1959–.
PGWC
W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington: Colonial Series . Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983–95.
PGWR
Philander Chase et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series . Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1985–.
PH
T. C. Hansard, ed. The Parliamentary History of England … The