In her first book, Amy Watson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of History, sheds light on a little-known origin story of the American Revolution. “Patriots Before Revolution: The Rise of Party Politics in the British Atlantic, 1714-1763” was published by Yale University Press in 2025.
“Patriots Before Revolution” was recently named a finalist for the prestigious 2026 George Washington Prize, which celebrates the year’s best works on the founding of the nation. Watson and the other four finalists discussed their books at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate Aug. 20 (see photos from the event here). The prize winner will be announced Oct. 5.
“I am thrilled to be a finalist for the George Washington Prize,” Watson said. “It is truly an honor to be listed alongside scholars whose work I have admired since I was a student myself. I hope this recognition helps show that the American Revolution was a geographically expansive event, whose causes were rooted in British as well as American political debates about empire, foreign policy and civil liberty across the Atlantic world.”
Tracing the origins of the patriots
Although George Washington and other leaders of the American independence movement famously labeled themselves “patriots,” the origins of that term are not well known, Watson argues. In “Patriots Before Revolution,” she traces the history of the Patriot party back to its roots in early 18th century Britain as a coalition of reformist, but pro-monarchy, politicians.
In contrast to their opponents, the Tories and the Whigs, the Patriots believed the British Empire would become stronger by giving more freedom for its citizens — including a free press, a legislative voice in taxation and trial by jury. Watson explains how the Patriots built the first empire-wide political party using an aggressive and coordinated campaign through newspapers in America and Britain. They also helped spark a series of mid-18th century wars, including the Seven Years War, which began with a military action led by George Washington himself in present-day western Pennsylvania.
In her book, Watson looks at case studies of Patriot influence in England, Scotland, New York and Georgia, then pulls back to describe how American and British patriots joined together to protest Tory imperial rule in the years leading up to the American Revolution.
Learn more and order “Patriots Before Revolution” here.
Watson recently published an article in the Journal of British Studies that serves as “somewhat of a coda” for her book, she said. It examines “how British Patriots did eventually diverge with American Patriots over the issue of independence.”
She is now in the research phase of a new book project focusing on an often-overlooked grievance listed in the Declaration of Independence: the obstacles George III had put in place to limit migration to America. The contentious and highly political issue of migration “contributed to the dramatic expansion of Britain’s Atlantic Empire over the course of the 18th century,” Watson said, but also “to its ultimate breakdown in the American Revolution.”