Tyrants and Rogues with Robert Parkinson

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” So begins the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. In our own time, these words are part of the American Creed, the most important part of a document that set a new nation on its revolutionary course. But to Thomas Jefferson and the men who wrote the Declaration in the summer of 1776, these stirring words were but window dressing to the charges levelled against the men who they held responsible for a civil war and had made independence necessary.

In that moment, no part of the Declaration mattered more to them than the list of 27 grievances directed at King George III, a series of indictments that accused the monarch of betraying his British American subjects. Yet, more than just the king lurked behind each count. He alone could not “impose Taxes on us without our Consent” nor have “plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people” without help from a gallery of tyrants and rogues. Names like Gage, Hutchinson, Tryon, or Duggingston may not appear in the Declaration, and they may be obscure to us, but to Jefferson and other British Americans, their presence was self-evident.  

In this episode, Dr. Jim Ambuske is joined by Dr. Robert Parkinson to discuss his new book, Tyrants and Rogues: Understanding the Declaration of Independence.

Hosted by Dr. Jim Ambuske. Executive producers are Dr. Lynn Price Robbins, Jeanette Patrick, and Patrick Long. Audio and video editing by Patrick Long. Revolutions in Retrospect is a joint production of Primary Source Media and Revolutionary Histories.