Rise To Rebellion: A Novel of the American Revolution

Braintree, May 11, 1774

With John Adams increasingly busy in Boston, his wife Abigail rents out their smaller second home to a father and his sons, who work the farm. The sons are polite and hard-working, but their father is an angry loyalist. One day, he returns from Boston with news that the Massachusetts government has been annulled; the citizens are now under the rule of the British army.

Boston, May 13, 1774

Gage returns to Boston and is expected to quell the rebellion; if successful, he fears the king and his ministers will take the credit. He establishes temporary headquarters at Castle William. Hutchinson arrives for the official transfer of power to Gage. He concedes mistakes regarding the Tea Party debacle but argues that calling in troops would’ve meant bloodshed. He suggests that the harshness of the king’s decree will only move the rebellion into secrecy. However, Gage is confident that his troops will restore the crown’s authority. From the battlements of Castle William, he hears the tolling of church bells from Boston. The town is in “mourning.”

Boston, June 17, 1774

With the civilian government dissolved, Adams’s law practice has stopped. Adams is shocked that England thinks force will be effective. Word of the king’s heavy-handed tactics reaches the other colonies. The colonists begin to unite in solidarity.

June 17, 1774

As Adams prepares to relocate to Braintree, Warren stops by with news. The assembly in Salem has elected to send Adams to Philadelphia as Massachusetts’s representative to the Continental Congress. As he leaves Boston the following morning, he encounters a convoy of wagons and carts carrying food and supplies into Boston, a direct rebuke to the army’s attempt to isolate and starve the city. As Governor Gage witnesses the scene, he hears in his mind “the sharp voices of thirteen colonies coming together to speak as one” (192).

Boston, August 9, 1774

Abigail accompanies John Adams to Boston to prepare for the Continental Congress. Unlike his cousin Sam, who advocates complete independence, John hopes to reconcile the issues with England through the mechanisms of the law; he has doubts, however, that the colonies can govern themselves. Abigail grows frustrated with his self-doubt.

August 10, 1774

As the delegates—John Adams, Sam Adams, Robert Paine, and Thomas Cushing—travel to Philadelphia, they are met with questions in each town, but also with unqualified support. The solidarity they encounter eases any doubts of unity.

New York, August 20, 1774

They arrive in New York and are escorted to the city by an armed militia. New York—a city not under siege—bustles with activity and commerce, and Sam worries that solidarity from the New York delegation is unlikely. They pass a statue of King George. The ostentatious displays of wealth suggest that many elite New Yorkers may not be eager to embrace change.

Philadelphia, September 1774

Adams and his fellow delegates are met outside Philadelphia by the city’s own Sons of Liberty, who offer them advice: Don’t use the word “independence” at the Congress to avoid alienating the less-radical delegates. They arrive at the boarding house and meet the other representatives. Sam assesses the group, searching for potential allies.

September 6, 1774

When British troops confiscate guns and munitions from Charlestown, Massachusetts, rumors spread that the mission has turned into a massacre, and a sizable militia surrounds Boston to confront the returning troops. Although the no one has been killed, the rumor reaches Philadelphia, inciting even the most conservative members of the delegation.

The delegates convene at Carpenter’s Hall as a symbolic show of solidarity with the city’s working class. Adams and his fellow delegates discuss the rumors, but Sam is skeptical. As the Congress convenes, the members call for a moment of prayer to commemorate the presumed victims of violence in Boston. When the truth finally reaches the delegates, they are relieved, and yet Adams is aware that, for those few precious hours, all the delegates stood united with Boston.