“This tour de forceby Shawn David McGhee could have been titled ‘When Americans became Americans.’ His account of the two stormy years that preceded the Declaration of Independence reveals the processes that fostered the emergence of a separate American identity, a necessary precondition for the final break with Britain in 1776. While the usual movers and shakers—congressmen and other politicians—figure prominently in this narrative, McGhee also describes how public pressure and the press reshaped the political climate.
No Longer Subjects of the British Kingis essential reading for anyone eager to understand how the American Revolution came about and the nature of the nation it begot.”
—Gregory J. W. Urwin,Temple University
“Refreshingly uncynical, this concise and well-written book explains how revolution became imaginable and practical in 1774 and 1775. Shawn McGhee combines the best aspects of older and newer scholarship, attending to ideology and practice, institutions like the Continental Congress as well as what people saw and did in their towns and what they read in the newspapers. It’s also a timely reminder of how active citizenship forged the republic, showing how identities and the nation were made
in politics.”
—David Waldstreicher, author of The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley
“In No Longer Subjects of the British King, Shawn McGhee has put the First Continental Congress of 1774 under close examination revealing a deeply principled commitment to popular and accountable political institutions and a civic devotion to the ideal of the public good.McGhee’s book shows the earliest formations of the idea of American civics and citizenship, and so imparts a profound and hopefully enduring lesson.”—Andrew Shankman, author of Original Intents: Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison and the American Founding