Summary of Research Trip

I foolishly went to the Rutgers Alexander Library (this past Saturday, 9/27) on a day when there was a home football game. Since I arrived by 10AM I was able to avoid any parking or traffic problems. I was able to locate ten books that the WPU Cheng Library did not have. Also, just by looking through the stacks I was able to locate a few additional sources. I went through about half of the books which took about 4 hours (10AM- 2PM). Then I broke for lunch and went to my favorite Chinese takeout place on campus. I returned to the library at about 2:30PM just as the campus came under the crush of football traffic. I finished going through the final books which took about another 2 hours. Overall the trip was successful. Though I only went through about fifteen books a good handful of them turned out to be very useful. I made 2 attempts to find someone at the reference desk to ask for assistance but was unsuccessful both times. I have used the Rutgers reference section for an undergrad paper (on post-colonial America) and did not find their resources very useful so I plan on using the WPU Cheng Library for that aspect of this project.


Updated Bibliography with Annotations


Andrews, J. South Reports the Civil War. Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey, 1970.
Little information.

Bailyn, Bernard. Faces of Revolution: Personalities and Themes in the Struggle for American Independence. Vintage Books Publishing, New York, New York,
1990.
Too much of a biographical book on many people. I was only able to use the chapter on Paine.

Barney, William. Flawed Victory: A New Perspective on the Civil
War. Preager Publishers, New York, New York, 1975.
Explains the evolution of a peoples war into a soldiers war; South became disinterseted in cause. Provides good insight on military theory in general (Clausewitz). This book will provide much information for this project.

Barney, William. Road to Disunion. Oxford University Press, New
York, New York, 1990.
Barney feels that the North's goal of restoring the Union turned into a conquest for political authority. Focuses on military aspects of war but also ties in how military failures were coupled with strategic political failures of Confederate government.

Beringer, Richard. Why the South Lost the Civil War. University
of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1986.
Explains how the South was not united after secession. The cause did not appeal to non-land/salve holders. Explains how the Confederacy collapsed from the inside.

Braeman, John. The Road to Independence: A Documentary History of the Causes of
The American Revolution: 1763- 1776. G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publishing,
New York, New York. 1963.
Explains Britains attempts to keep colonies under her control. Also explains how colonists prepared from war with England (economically and physically).

Brecher, Frank W. Securing American Independence: John Jay and the French Alliance. Praeger Publishing, Westport, Connecticut, 2003.
Too much focus on internal matter of France and not enough about France’s aid to the colonies during the Revolution. Two good quotes pulled from about 120 pages.

Bridenbaugh, Carl. The Spirit of ’76: The Growth of American Patriotism Before
Independence. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. 1975.
Looks at early settlement history to explain the transformation of early settlers from British to American. This book will be excellent to show how deep rooted the American cause was and the evolution of English to American patriotism. This book will provide a good portion of the information used.


Clark, Dora Mae. British Opinion and the American Revolution. Russell & Russell
Publishing, New York, New York. 1966.
Again, this book was too focused on British affairs to be useful to me.

Davis, Burke. The Long Surrender. Random House Publishing,
New York, New York, 1985.
Inability of South to deal with defeat when it was obvious. Outlines failures of Jefferson Davis as an viable leader in any way.

Ellis, Joseph. American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. Knopf Press, New York, New York, 2007.
Focuses on the years 1775 to 1803 so only the beginning of this book is helpful. Ellis lays out and explains five pivotal achievements of the Revolution.

Faust, Drew. Creation of Confederate Nationalism. Louisiana
State University Pres, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1988.
Compared South to North Vietnam (not the only book to do that). Also explains South's (Davis') failure to create a popular consensus behind the war effort.

Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution.
Harper and Row Publihsing, New York ,New York, 1988.
Little information.

Freehling, William. Prelude to Civil War: Nullification Crisis.
Gallagher, Gary. The Confederate War. Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1997.
Shows the lack of support most Southerners had for the war. Compares Gernerals Washington and Lee. South was more loyal to their section rather than the south as a whole. Lots of useful information in this book.

Gipson, Lawrence Henry. The Coming of the Revolution: 1763- 1775. Harper &
Brothers Publishing, New York, New York, 1954.
Excellent book. Brings in many aspects of the fifteen years prior to the Revolution. Focuses on English Parliament, popular opinion among colonists, the changing relationship between the colonies and Great Britain, Loyalists and treason on the part of the colonies. This book will also provide a bulk of information.

Greene, Jack ed. The Reinterpretation of the American Revolution: 1763- 1789.
Harper & Row Publishers. 1968.
I used two essays from this book. Explains how colonists legitimized their opposition of British Acts.

How The Great Struggle Began: The Mistake of Jefferson Davis Which Consolidated the North Against His Cause, and the Vain Protests of Toombs.
New York Times, April 4, 1915.

Howe, John R. ed. The Role of Ideology in the American Revolution. Holt,
Rinehart, And Winston Publishing, Chicago, Illinois, 1970.
Focuses on government of each side and how each justified their stand on the other.

Jennings, Francis. The Creation of America Through Revolution to Empire.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 2000.
Presents allegence and tradition of colonists as main point of contention against England. Again shows how deeply rooted the colonial cause was.

Jensen, Merrill. The American Revolution Within America. New York University
Press, New York, New York. 1974.
Focuses on how support was rallied prior to the Revolution. Cites how specific English policies were oppressive to colonists

Knollenberg, Bernhard. Growth of the American Revolution: 1766-1775. Liberty
Fund Publishing, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1975.
Little information in this book. Focuses to much on British affairs of this time.

McCaslin, Richard. Lee in the Shadow of Washington. Louisiana State University
Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2001.
Explains Lee’s lifelong struggle to emulate George Washington. Draws direct connections between the Revolution and the Civil War. Also explains Lee’s family ties to the Revolution and how he tried to preserve that legacy years later. Though there is not more than a page and a half of notes from this book, the notes I do have are very important to the project.

McPhearson, James. New History of the Civil War. Metro Books Publishing. 2001.
Used this book mainly for basic information. Also useful for popular opinion of both sides. I felt it focused more on the South.

Parker, John ed. The American Revolution: A Heritage of Change. James Ford Bell
Library Publishing, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1975.
Shows deteriorating relationship between England and the colonies over time.

Rhodehamel, John ed. The American Revolution: Writings from the War of
Independence. Penguin Publishing. 2001
Little information.

Roland, Charles. The Confederacy. University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, Illinois, 1960.
Again compares the Civil War South with the colonies, only briefly. Outlines in detail why the South was unsuccessful.

Russell, William. My Diary, North and South. Louisiana State
University Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2001.
Not used.

Van Tyne, Claude. The Causes of the War of Independence. Houghton Mifflin Co.,
New York, New York, 1922.
Focuses on psychological aspect of rallying colonists behind the cause. Excellent quotes.

Vandiver, Frank E. Basic History of the Confederacy. Van Nostrand
Co. Publishing, Princeton, New Jersey, 1962.
Explains weakness of Jefferson Davis and also explains the points of contention which drove the south to seceed.

Williams, David. Bitterly Divided: The South’s Inner Civil War. The New Press,
New York, New York, 2008.
Shows how the war was strongly opposed in the South and the dichotomy of the South
before, during and after the Civil War. Explains how divisions within the South led to
its downfall. This entire book will be used for information.

Wright, Nathanial. Day of the Confederacy. Yale University Press, New
Haven, Connecticut, 1920.
Unable to locate.

Young, Alfred ed. The American Revolution: Explorations in the History of American
Radicalism. Northern Illinois University Publishing, DeKalb, Illinois. 1976.
Focuses on Thomas Paine. Too biographical.