Abstract: The cities of eighteenth-century America were crucial for the coming of the American Revolution. This book focuses closely on political mobilization in colonial British America's five most populous cities, from 1740 to 1780. It particularly examines the Boston waterfront community, New York City taverns, Newport churches and congregations, the elite households of Charleston, and the gatherings outside the Philadelphia State House and State House Yard. Because of their tight concentrations of people and diverse mixture of inhabitants, the largest cities offered fertile ground for political consciousness, political persuasion, and political action. The book traces how everyday interactions in taverns, wharves, and elsewhere slowly developed into more serious political activity. Ultimately, the residents of cities became the first to voice their discontent. Merchants began meeting to discuss the repercussions of new laws, printers fired up provocative pamphlets, and protesters took to the streets. Indeed, the cities became the flashpoints for legislative protests, committee meetings, massive outdoor gatherings, newspaper harangues, boycotts, customs evasion, violence and riots-all of which laid the groundwork for war. By focusing on some of the most pivotal events of the eighteenth century as they unfolded in the most dynamic places in America, this book illuminates how city dwellers joined in various forms of political participation that helped make the Revolution possible.

Keywords: cities,, American Revolution,, political mobilization,, political participation,, Boston,, Charleston,, Newport,, New York,, Philadelphia