Now On View: New Documents Showcase Different Viewpoints of the Revolution

Throughout the Revolutionary War, different people held different views - some were in support of the Revolution, some were loyal to the British king, and others were ambivalent. A case in the Museum's Declaration of Independence gallery highlights these different views.

Now on view in this case are four documents displaying a diversity of perspectives.

Officer’s Commission

Growing up in British North America, Henry Clinton began his army career at the age of 15 and saw his first major battles as an officer in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). Clinton advanced steadily through the ranks of the British Army and received this commission as a major general in 1772. Three years later, King George III sent him to Boston to help stop the American rebellion. In 1776, Clinton sailed with an army to Charleston, South Carolina, hoping to unite southern Loyalists and establish a British base of operations in the South. Unsuccessful in this endeavor, Clinton’s force rejoined the main British Army outside New York City.

Letter

Lucy Flucker Knox, wife of Continental Army Colonel Henry Knox, wrote this letter to her husband during the summer of 1776. As the daughter of prominent Loyalists and an advocate of the Revolutionary cause, Lucy was caught in between conflicting alliances and domestic responsibilities. While many women like Lucy played active and crucial roles in the war effort, their fates remained deeply connected to the decisions of men who shaped their world at large. In this letter, Lucy provided Henry with an update about their infant daughter as she began to talk and pleaded with him to survive the war.

Pennsylvania Evening Post

This issue of the Pennsylvania Evening Post features a series of letters written by Brook Watson, a Nova Scotia-based merchant branded as a traitor by the Continental Congress. Addressed to several Boston-area loyalists, Watson’s letters were intercepted during the capture of the British vessel Nancy in November 1775. Throughout the early years of the burgeoning conflict, Watson appeared to have aligned himself with the interests of the United Colonies. His intercepted letters demonstrated otherwise, both offering intelligence to prominent loyalists and critiquing the strategies of the British army. The Continental Congress motioned to publish the letters for public consumption, humiliating Watson.

Pennsylvania Evening Post

Sandwiched between a variety of local advertisements, printer Robert Bell announced the sale of a brand-new pamphlet titled Common Sense in this issue of the Pennsylvania Evening Post. Published January 9, 1776, this was the first commercial advertisement for Common Sense. Similar advertisements for the revolutionary pamphlet appeared in papers across the American colonies in the months that followed. Back in Philadelphia, Robert Bell faced business disagreements with Thomas Paine, prompting the author to work with other local printers for publication of the pamphlet.