Thirteen Clocks

March 15, 2021
A sobering argument that American independence was gained principally after Colonial leaders purposefully "weaponized" prejudices against African Americans and Native peoples. As Parkinson notes at the beginning, this book is a distillation and revision of his much longer book, The Common Cause (2016), and it features a "new introduction and conclusion and new material exploring all the myriad problems patriot leaders faced when they began the nearly impossible task of constructing a durable union in the 1770s." Using rarely studied Colonial newspaper evidence, the author reveals how fear as much as idealism drove American colonists to independence. It was because of their shared conviction that the British were preparing to use non-White people against them that, Parkinson argues in John Adams' words, "thirteen clocks were made to strike together." The author convincingly demonstrates how Colonial anxieties emerged immediately after the 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord and, only 15 months later, made their way into the Declaration of Independence, which described "merciless Indian savages," "foreign Mercenaries," and "domestic insurrectionists." Colonial leaders didn't create these fears; instead, they stoked long-existing ones to unite the Colonies in their unprecedented drive for political freedom. Then they structured post-Revolution constitutions to prevent the incorporation of Blacks and Natives into the population as citizens. Parkinson pulls no punches. "When the war was won," he writes, "the so-called 'founding fathers' wanted the 'candid world' to believe that only the first paragraphs of the Declaration--with the lofty sentiments of self-evident truths and inalienable rights--animated the colonists' fight for liberty....What they wanted us to forget--and we largely have--was that the drive to have thirteen colonial clocks strike as one was also a campaign stamped by the vicious, the confining, and the destructive." While omitting other factors, the author makes a strong case for the soiled origins of the U.S. A knowledgeable, disturbing presentation of the prominent role of racism in the years of the nation's birth.

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Starred review from May 1, 2021

In this latest work, Parkinson (history; Binghamton Univ.; The Common Cause) considers how race was often at the forefront of events surrounding the American Revolution. His main thesis is that white fear and othering of Black Americans and Indigenous peoples unified the cause of the 13 Atlantic seaboard colonies between 1775 and 1776. Southerner slaveowners feared that enslaved people would rebel and develop autonomy or freedom. White Northerners and Westerners who sought to colonize Indigenous lands, feared the ensuing conflicts. Parkinson writes that both of these fears were backed by the British Crown and were relayed and amplified through newspaper accounts. The author posits that these accounts were also transmitted through regional information networks. Parkinson argues that fear, especially fear of the other, drove U.S. independence. This incisive work adds another layer to the historiography of the American Revolution and draws parallels to current events. VERDICT An accessible account that is highly recommended for those who want a historical perspective on current issues and those interested in the nation's founding.--Jacob Sherman, Univ. of Texas at San Antonio

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