Acknowledgments vi Preface 1 Chapter 1. Setting the Stage 5 Chapter 2. America: 1760 11 Chapter 3. The Era of the French and Indian War 31 Chapter 4. Escalation and Victory 49 Chapter 5. King George III and the Rise of American Resistance 69 Chapter 6. The Stamp Act and a Congress 88 Chapter 7. The Ink War on the Stamp Act 103 Chapter 8. A Farmer Pushes Back 124 Chapter 9. The Dimensions of Taxation 153 Chapter 10. Ancient Liberties 173 Chapter 11. James Wilson, Thomas Jefferson, and the Final Arguments for America 187 Appendix 1. Crevecoeur—What Is an American? 215 Appendix 2. The Language of the Stamp Act 219 Appendix 3. Language from the Repeal of the Stamp Act 221 Appendix 4.The Language of the Declaratory Act 222 Appendix 5. Massachusetts Circular Letter to the Colonial Legislatures: February 11, 1768 224 Appendix 6. James Wilson: From Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament 227 Appendix 7. Albany Plan of Union 1754 230 Appendix 8. William Blackstone: Excerpt from the Introduction to Commentaries on the Laws of England 233 Chapter Notes 237 Bibliography 249 Index 255