Breen's book showed that the American Revolution was built more on instinctive emotion than the rational action and decision-making that some think it to be. I also learned that the revolution was more popular with far more people supporting it, and vociferously so, than I had believed from movies such as 1776. Lastly, I was astonished to discover that the pitch and passion of the people was regulated by safety committees that were set up throughout the fighting nation to control and regulate the mood.
Passion of war
According to John Adams, "the Revolution was affected before the war commenced." It did not come about in a rational cause-and-effect manner as a result of the taxes leveraged at the end of the French war against the British as many history textbooks make it seem to be. Rather the colonists had long and entrenched feelings of distrust and animosity against the British, and the taxes were the last actions that flared emotion into war.
Anger, a sense of injustice, and sentiments of religious belief fueled...
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