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Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence, 1774-1776 Hardcover – May 7, 2013

by Richard R. Beeman (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 85 ratings
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In 1768, Philadelphia physician Benjamin Rush stood before the empty throne of King George III, overcome with emotion as he gazed at the symbol of America's connection with England. Eight years later, he became one of the fifty-six men to sign the Declaration of Independence, severing America forever from its mother country. Rush was not alone in his radical decision -- many of those casting their votes in favor of independence did so with a combination of fear, reluctance, and even sadness.

In Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor, acclaimed historian Richard R. Beeman examines the grueling twenty-two-month period between the meeting of the Continental Congress on September 5, 1774 and the audacious decision for independence in July of 1776. As late as 1774, American independence was hardly inevitable -- indeed, most Americans found it neither desirable nor likely. When delegates from the thirteen colonies gathered in September, they were, in the words of John Adams, "a gathering of strangers." Yet over the next two years, military, political, and diplomatic events catalyzed a change of unprecedented magnitude: the colonists' rejection of their British identities in favor of American ones. In arresting detail, Beeman brings to life a cast of characters, including the relentless and passionate John Adams, Adams' much-misunderstood foil John Dickinson, the fiery political activist Samuel Adams, and the relative political neophyte Thomas Jefferson, and with profound insight reveals their path from subjects of England to citizens of a new nation.

A vibrant narrative, Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor tells the remarkable story of how the delegates to the Continental Congress, through courage and compromise, came to dedicate themselves to the forging of American independence.
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  1. Print length
    528 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Basic Books
  4. Publication date
    May 7, 2013
  5. Dimensions
    6.38 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    046502629X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0465026296
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Like his account of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Plain, Honest Men (2009), Beeman’s depiction of political events culminating in the Declaration of Independence features the main characters in the historical drama, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and John Dickinson. Using the Continental Congress as his narrative vehicle, Beeman strives to recover its members’ proceedings in Philadelphia, not a simple task, considering the author’s condemnation of the assembly’s secretary, Charles Thomson, as “an abysmal record keeper.” But Beeman succeeds in showing readers the intricacies of the Congress’ activities. If history knows Congress traveled from petitioning the British king to denouncing him, Beeman counters assumptions of inevitability with the debates and political maneuvers of radicals and moderates. Showing how, during a two-year period, 1774–76, the position of reconciliation with Britain evaporated, Beeman as perceptively portrays the dilemmas of moderates like Dickinson as he does the drift of sentiment toward independence within each colony’s delegation. Capped by the editing of Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration, Beeman’s is an engaging history of the Founders of 1776. --Gilbert Taylor

Review

“Beeman's prose captures those tensions and facilitates the imagination so the reader can feel a part of the debate.... Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor is an appropriate complement to David Stewart's The Summer of 1787.... Beeman has produced an authoritative account of how this nation was imagined, and how the members from different sections of the continent were able to put aside their differences and to explore their differing philosophical, political and market needs to form an embryonic government that has grown to be a beacon for other communities seeking self-governance.”
—Roanoke Times

“An engaging history of the Founders of 1776.”
—Booklist

“Full of fascinating details.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Lively study of the main players of the two Continental Congresses.... Beeman elegantly moves through the deeply compelling process of how these motley characters fashioned government as an agency for the people. A welcome addition to a rich, indispensable field of scholarly study.”
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“The American Revolution tends to bring out the best in its chroniclers. Case in point: Richard Beeman's latest book, Our Lives, Our Fortunes, & Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence, 1774-1776. It's a charming, fast-paced retelling of a narrative that's been retold a thousand times before.... It's not really the historian's trade he's plying in these pages but rather the epic poet's: reciting the grand old stories while the wine of patriot season flows and the night sky over Boston is filled with fireworks.
There's a worth to that, and Beeman has written a worthy book.”
—Open Letters Monthly

“This book should be required reading in every college survey course on American History... An outstanding book that should become an instant classic and needs to be on the bookshelf of anyone who fancies themselves knowledgeable about the Revolutionary Period.”
—Battles & Book Reviews

“[Beeman] demonstrates his virtuosity….the book abounds with colorful descriptions and personalities….vivid writing.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“[A] winningly delivered twice-told tale about the founding events of the United States.”
—New York Times Book Review

“Richard Beeman's account of the movement to American independence is gripping, even if the reader knows the subject well and has no doubt as to how it ends.... We are fortunate to have as readable and cogent account of it as Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor.”
—Federal Lawyer

“New insight to an old story.... Beeman is a strong, direct writer, adept at bringing historical personalities to life.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer

“Our best history of the Continental Congress and the grand debate that led to independence.... With back-room deals and personality clashes in abundance, Beeman's tale of independence is as complex, worldly, and occasionally tedious as modern-day politics.”
—Books & Culture

“You walk away from Our Lives with the undeniable impression that the Founding Fathers really were giants, however flawed, who single-handedly created American democracy.”
—Slate

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 1st edition (May 7, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 528 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 046502629X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465026296
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.7 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 85 ratings

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Richard R. Beeman

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
85 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book interesting, well-researched, and excellent. They also say it's readable and easy to understand. Readers appreciate the vivid portraits of the main players.

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14 customers mention "Information quality"14 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting, well-researched, and full of excellent information. They appreciate the lucid and stirring account of Revere's ride, Lexington, and biographical sketches. Readers also mention the book is informative, fact-filled, and a lively narrative.

"...Beeman’s “Our Lives, Our Fortunes,” is a detailed, superbly written chronological history of the first two Continental Congress meetings from 1774 -..." Read more

"...On pages 191-5 Beeman provides such a lucid and stirring account of Revere's ride, Lexington and Concord, and Hancock's and Adams' escape to the..." Read more

"Richard R. Beeman has provided us not only a scholarly work, but a fast paced and most excellent summary of the almost two years that transpired in..." Read more

"...It is a lively well written narrative with a variety of strands that highlight the causes, players,meetings,correspondences, and written works of..." Read more

11 customers mention "Readability"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very readable and interesting. They appreciate the details and biographical sketches of the main players. Readers also say the book brings clarity to how we got to be the republic that we are.

"...With vividly, informative portraits of the main players (the Adamses (John/Sam), John Hancock, John Dickinson, George Washington, Thomas Paine, the..." Read more

"This work is a welcomed close-up examination of the secretive momentous twenty-two month period of activity of the nascent Continental Congress from..." Read more

"This reads almost like a thriller, in the sense that you can't wait to see what happens next...." Read more

"...The writing is concise and neat. No trying to figure out what the writer is saying...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

JEDrury
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb history
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2018
Verified Purchase
Professor Richard Beeman’s “Our Lives, Our Fortunes,” is a detailed, superbly written chronological history of the first two Continental Congress meetings from 1774 - 1776. With vividly, informative portraits of the main players (the Adamses (John/Sam), John Hancock, John Dickinson, George Washington, Thomas Paine, the Lees of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson), this 400 + page book captures the atmospherics of 18th century Philadelphia, the sentiment in Colonies and the fluctuating struggle for moderation by the Loyalists ( like Dickinson) against the inevitable tide of independence as advocated by the Adamses and the Virginians.

In the face of recent glowing biographies and our public perception of John Adams, Beeman is critical of him noting his envy and arrogance dealing with Hancock, Paine and Jefferson, but is tempered in describing John Dickinson (Pennsylvania) as the cautious patriot in the struggle for independence who sought a third course apart from submission to England and war. There is room for thought; what if the English had sought a compromise in place of the King’s callous dismissal of the rebellion.

At all points in his seamless readable chronology, he examines the sentiment and evolving positions of each of the colonies and the evolution of political sentiment ultimately supporting independence. His last two chapters deal with the drafting of Jefferson’s “Declaration,” and, revealing that the final document was significantly edited by the Congress by removing some of Jefferson’s more provocative points.

Beeman’s research is deep; he is convincing in his conclusions. His footnotes add to the background, offering other avenues of historical inquiry for the reader; he includes a cast of characters, a chronology, two appendixes and an endearing acknowledgement at the end.
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James T. Kennedy MD
5.0 out of 5 stars Charles Thomson's work reconstructed...
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2013
Verified Purchase
The American separation from Britain to "assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station" of independent nation is a tale told many times. Oxford University Press presented an official version in 1982 with Robert Middlekauff's The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 (Oxford History of the United States), in 2002 Gordon Wood gave us a thorough telling with The American Revolution: A History (Modern Library Chronicles), and just since then books on the topic would fill a small library. Some versions begin with the French and Indian War since it removed the French from the future fields of revolution and left the British in search of tax revenue to pay its costs. Still other versions carry through to the Louisiana Purchase because it truly opened the doors for a continental United States of America. More recently, we have volumes concerning restricted episodes and time frames within the Revolution such as the newly released Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence, by a prolific Founding writer Joseph Ellis, covering merely five months of the story. Richard R. Beeman's Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence, 1774-1776, is another slice of the Founding times. This book covers 1774-1776 and is the story of the Continental Congress that produced the Declaration of Independence. Indeed, this book does for the Declaration what Pauline Maier's Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 did for the Constitution. Immediately after assembling on 5 September 1774 in the Carpenter's Hall East Room the delegates chose a president (Peyton Randolph) and then a secretary to record the minutes. They chose Charles Thomson, one of the many "other guys" who never seem remembered in the legends of those events. However, Thomson is not remembered only because his casual, relaxed, inconstant, and even incompetent record keeping has left many lacunae in the official history of American Independency. Indeed, years later Thomson made the conscious choice to burn all his papers and records of the Congress because he wanted the already mythic dimensions of the story and its heroes to remain undisturbed. Thus he removed himself from a place in history at least as famous as Samuel Pepys.

Now, Beeman's Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence, 1774-1776 sets out to fill in the blanks and supply an accurately detailed account of the proceedings that produced, in Pauline Maier's title about the same document, "American Scripture" (American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence). Beeman reconstructs Thomson's missing account. Detail, detail, details are what make this book so valuable to anyone with an interest in the topic. The major theme is the conflict between the delegates searching for reconciliation with Britain and the radicals already convinced that independence is inevitable. Within that story are countless little episodes: the Powder Scare, Washington's contempt for the peace commissioners, Hancock's refusal to relinquish his temporary presidency of the proceedings, Samuel Chase's itinerant diplomacy, Caesar Rodney's famous ride, and anecdote after anecdote about more "other guys" in the story. Beeman thanks his fact-checker, Alicia DeMaio, in his Acknowledgments, as well he should, since fact-checking this book must have been a nightmare. On page 106 Joseph Reed is described as a delegate. He wasn't, at least until 1778, but the error highlights just how many tiny details have to be correct in telling this oft-told tale. Is the book up to the reviewers' "well-written"? On pages 191-5 Beeman provides such a lucid and stirring account of Revere's ride, Lexington and Concord, and Hancock's and Adams' escape to the Congress that it should be plagiarized directly into the next edition of American school children's textbooks. His version of how Tom Pain(e)'s Common Sense (Dover Thrift Editions) accelerated history by changing the temper of the American people to a Common Cause is another highlight. Perhaps the most important details of the book relate to the provincial legislature-by-legislature account of the final tallies for independence. In Maier's Ratification we learn that the final vote for the Constitution by all the states' delegates split 65%-35%. There was opposition. There was opposition to Independence as well, and Beeman's book tells another suspenseful, close-run tale about how the document finally became unanimous in the "The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America". The point of both books is that the final decisions went back to and were made by the American people through locally chosen representatives. And if you are curious about which delegates and opponents became Loyalists, Beeman supplies that answer too. Americans expect reverence when our founding documents are discussed, and Beeman supplies veneration aplenty. For a more cynical, ironic, and sardonic view of the same people and events try Conrad Black's Flight of the Eagle: The Grand Strategies That Brought America from Colonial Dependence to World Leadership, but for a deeper understanding of the Glorious Cause version Beeman's book fits the bill.
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