Higgenbotham Book Review :: American History, American Identity

Don Higginbotham expertly combines both primary and secondary sources providing the reader a composite historical narrative of the American Revolution as â€Å"seen through American ideas.† Higginbotham was Dowd Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill until his death in June 2008. Higginbotham contributed several articles on comparative revolution and many other books and articles about the American Revolution. The book’s subtitle is Military Attitudes, Policies, and Practice 1763 – 1789. However, Higginbotham devotes substantial attention to other themes providing the reader with a synthesized version of the political and military aspects of the war. He also addresses the cultural and social aspects of the war. In doing so, he illustrates how the war affected the development of an American identity and how whig philosophy translated into everyday reality for the common man. Finally, he uses the book to compare the Vietnam conflict to the American Revolution. The author never directly discusses the development of an American identity, but one can see that thread as he discusses the militia system and its reinforcement of the provincialism and localism during the period (7). Higginbotham continues this theme, contending that a group of â€Å"American political leaders† emerged within the Continental Congress who were nationalists and desired to go beyond the simple provincial assemblies (81). Higginbotham maintains this concept, proposing that Manifest Destiny may have been an issue as early as 1776 in the colonial discussions concerning the invasion of Canada (108). The concept of an American identity came to fruition in 1776 when opinion concerning independence grew increasingly favorable (117). One could argue, however, that most Americans possessed little concept of an identity even after the Declaration was signed. Nevertheless, in 1781 the Pennsylvania line must had some concept of an American identity. After revolting due to lack of pay and other necessary items, one soldier remarked that, â€Å"Clinton might ‘bribe such a mean toadeater as Arnold,’ but ‘it is not in his power to bribe an American soldier’† (404). Without an innate knowledge of what an American soldier was, it seems unlikely that such a remark would have been made. Higginbotham clearly demonstrates how colonial Americans internalized whig beliefs and turned them into action not only resisting British authority, but also resisting its own Continental Army. This created somewhat of a quandary for colonial authorities throughout the war, for in resisting the militarism of George III (118), they needed to establish a military that became what they were fighting against. Higginbotham describes Congress’ first attempt at this in a â€Å"restrained military code† that would reflect the society from which it originated.