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Citation |
Hoock H. Past Present 2016; 230(1): 123-159. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2016, Past and Present Society, Publisher Oxford University Press) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
In spring 1777 John Adams started a letter to his wife, Abigail, by quoting his barber, whom he liked to cite 'as often as ever I did any Authority'. Adams's barber had 'read Histories of Cruelty; and he has read Romances of Cruelty: But the Cruelty of the British exceeds all that he ever read'. Americans, Adams argued, should use history, poetry and the visual arts as means of 'publishing to the World, and perpetuating to Posterity, the horrid deeds of our Enemies'. Spreading the 'facts' about British inhumanity would 'strike every pious, and humane Bosom, in Great Britain with Horror' and 'interest the Sympathy, and Compassion of all Europe in our Favour'. Moreover, 'it would convince every American that a Nation, so great a Part of which is thus deeply depraved, can never be again trusted with Power over Us'. To... Language: en |