Harbottle Dorr: The Musings of a Common Patriot in Revolutionary Boston, 1765-1770

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the well known events and circumstances that precipitated the Declaration of Independence and the battles of the Revolutionary War under the lens of one of Boston’s common men: Harbottle Dorr. His opinions on such instances and climates as the Stamp Act, the Sons of Liberty (of whom Dorr was one), the Boston Massacre, the Tea Act and ensuing Tea Party, the Intolerable Acts, and the initial conflicts of Lexington and Concord, as well as the Battle of Bunker Hill give valuable insight into the mind of an everyday patriot. His powerful words emulate the very characteristics for which the Revolution is known, and for which it was fought.