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Living through history means bewilderment
Textbook tidiness
Textbooks and scholars read it as this happened, then this happened, then this happened, as though it all unfolded in a certain way. People do not live their lives that way. When you are in the midst of global historical events, they are very difficult to make sense of.
The pandemic example
The pandemic is a recent example. Americans lived through it only a few years ago, and recent hearings with Dr. Fauci before Congress showed that people still cannot agree on what happened six years ago: what the origins were, what the consequences were, and whether what was done at the time was correct.
Bewilderment in 1776
Historian Rob Parkinson has written about bewilderment as an important concept in history. The same was true for the people of the American Revolution era. They did not necessarily know they were living through a revolution.
How slowly did news travel in 1775?
News crossed the Atlantic only as fast as a ship could sail. A fast vessel carrying the Massachusetts account of Lexington and Concord reached London on May 28, 1775, more than five weeks after the battle. General Gage's own official report arrived on a slower ship, the Sukey, in early June. Within the colonies, news moved by rider at the pace of a horse.
When did John Adams say the revolution happened?
In a February 1818 letter to Hezekiah Niles, Adams wrote that the real revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people. He said it was effected before the war began. He described the fighting as only an effect of that change. Adams was 82 years old when he wrote the letter.
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