Introduction to this book 

I personally believe that human society, whether in China or the west, has basic support. In the Christian world, it is called brotherly love, while in China, it is called morality and conscience, and these are the foundation of the world. It can be said that Expressing them is the main driving force of my writing. I have lived in Zhangzhou most of my life, which is located in Southern Fujian and far away from the Central Plains since ancient times. Zhangzhou is a wilderness in ancient china, but it has rarely experienced war. However, since the Republic of China, Zhangzhou has been at the forefront of opening up the window facing the world. It is also the first place where Christianity was introduced. Lin Yutang’s father is a pastor of a remote mountain town, more than 100 kilometers away from Zhangzhou city, still with the rugged mountain road today. You can know the popularity of Christianity in Zhangzhou at that time. There are strong religious beliefs in Zhangzhou. Christian churches everywhere, of course, there are more temples, Taoist temples, mountain god temples, and land god temples. The people on this land entrust their hope, past, present lives, and events in the next life or the previous one. These touching phenomena impacted me hugely. Of course, in any case, Huntington and his epoch-making masterpiece “conflict of civilizations ” have the most significant effect on my thought. I directly promoted Huntington’s civilization’s conflict to religion’s determination on human history and expounded it in detail from theology and philosophy. This book repeatedly demonstrates this view through detailed historical materials from the three British islands in ancient Rome to the founding of the United States.

In fact, the above feelings are the contents of the first chapter of the first book, which was basically finished more than ten years ago. Through unforgettable personal experience and deeply influenced by Buddhist thought at that time, I had written some manuscripts, believing that life is full of endless pain and annoyance. The greatest and ultimate pain is the fear of death,In order to solve this ultimate problem, many religions were born, and thus there was magnificent human history after that. This chapter was revised from these manuscripts and accomplished in one breath. 

The book also uses the most detailed materials to demonstrate the consistency between the Apostolic Church and Protestantism. On this basis, I deeply discuss the origin of Protestantism and how Luther generated epoch-making equality for all under God through his soul-stirring exploration. It made Christianity return to the accessibility, freedom, and equality of the apostolic era, opened a new chapter of human society. Calvin deduced many Christian Rights on the gound of Luther. He deduced these rights through the most essential Ten Commandments in the Bible, such as the inviolability of private rights, people having the right to protect themselves with guns, etc. These are the origin of Western civilization and the cornerstone of the so-called capitalism. It is also the root of the so-called concept of human rights. On these bases, I naturally led everyone to the British revolution.

Next, you can see the most wonderful part of the book, the British revolution, and the American Revolution. I searched many old English historical dates and got many precious historical materials, which completely subverted the views and ideas of ordinary historical books on these two revolutions. In this book, I adhere to the view of most British historians that the British civil war was a revolution carried out by Puritans to realize their ideals, so the British civil war can be called the Puritan war. The first chapter, the background of the civil war, emphasizes that the conflict between Anglian and Puritanism is the leading cause of the civil war because it involves the ultimate eternal world. Both sides all give eye teeth, don’t give in a little, which leads to the outbreak of the civil war. The second chapter, Britain before the civil war, describes England under the regime of James I and Charles I and emphasizes that Charles’ tendency to dictatorship is the direct external cause of the outbreak of the civil war. The third chapter is the battle of bishops. Charles, I forced the implementation of the Anglican and episcopal system in Scotland, which aroused the dissatisfaction of Scots who believed in the Presbyterian Church, and broke out the war of resistance, that is, the battle of bishops, which was the beginning of Britain’s all-round civil war. The fourth chapter, the first civil war, introduced in detail the internal causes of the outbreak of the British revolution, The majority of Anglicans were extremely dissatisfied with Charles I’s forcible promotion of the high church (Amini sect) of William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury at that time. At the same time, Charles I also had a fierce quarrel and conflict with the Parliament on constitutional government. The Puritans took advantage of this confusion to put forward radical proposals for abolishing the Catholic system. It resulted in the great division in Britain and the complete outbreak of civil war. This chapter also introduces the process of the civil war in detail, especially Cromwell and his new model army.

I demonstrated that it was because the new social governance model of the Puritans was completely different from Britain, not to mention in other parts of the world. Then, the later United States came into being. The main characteristics of this governance model are the democratic election, municipal autonomy, governor system, two-level Parliament, etc. All of these spread the ideas of freedom and equality; it is impossible to taste it in other parts of human society. It can also be clearly seen that these are the prototypes of today’s American Constitution. All these governance models are related to the Puritan faith. They are unique and evergreen because religious belief determines whether you can come to the ultimate eternal world; it is the most important thing in human life, believers will never give up easily. However, it is because of such irreconcilability; a new world can be created, that is, today’s American society. The third chapter details the establishment and development of twelve colonies in North America except Massachusetts, especially Penn’s dismal sacred experiment in Pennsylvania, which paved the way for the conflict between the Quakers in Pennsylvania and the Puritans in the four states of New England in the later American Revolution. The fourth chapter, the colonies after the glorious revolution, relates the glorious revolution of Britain and the situation of the colonies after the glorious revolution and introduces at length the history of the seven-year war, which also is the prelude to American independence. In these chapters, I explain the different religions, cultures, customs, and political systems of the thirteen states of North America at that time. Up to now, you can still feel the pulse and clear voice of the times.

From Chapter 5, stamp duty struggle to Chapter 13, independence, these chapters are up to more than 40000 words. They are the highlights of the book. They depict the American Revolution and the process of American independence thoroughly. Similarly, few people in the West or China discuss this history in depth. I can dare say that the description of this history in this book, even if it is not the most detailed, the most profound, and in-depth, in all works at all times. The discussion of this history mainly quotes Bancroft’s ten-volume American history. Bancroft’s American history was written during the American Civil War. It is the earliest and most detailed colonial history of the United States. His masterpiece is too large in scale and too complex in content; it has not been cited often. However, as a foreigner, I believe that this work is the most valuable and original American history, and its academic status can not be replaced. Because Bancroft does not simply explain history, he quotes many historical materials to demonstrate history. His rigorous academic attitude also casts the value of this work, which is an impossible realm for other historical works. Therefore, I believe that based on this great historical work, we can have the most in-depth and profound understanding of the American Revolution and grasp the most real and most reliable history of American independence.

In these chapters, I describe the causes of the American Revolution meticulously. No Taxation Without Representation, the salary of British officials, common defense, the stationing of British troops in the colonies and other external factors, as well as the strong dissatisfaction and desperate struggle of the colonies, especially the four Puritan states of new England, against the British government’s attempt to promote Anglican and establish bishops in the colonies. And this is the essential internal cause of the American Revolution.I believe that there was a serious conflict between the Puritans’ ideas of freedom and equality and the ancient British monarchy, even and the constitutional monarchy after the British glorious revolution. It led to the outbreak of the American Revolution, rather than the economic reasons such as stamp duty, understood by the general view. It can be said that these completely subverted the historical sights of both the East and the west, so this book is a precious work no matter how to say. The book also describes the famous stamp duty struggle and the Townshend acts struggle in history and narrates the detailed process and content of the First Continental Congress and the Second Continental Congress during the American War of independence. At the second congress, the Puritans in the four states of New England were firmly determined to be independent, and other states hesitated, hoping to reconcile with Britain. This engendered sharp contradictions between them. As a representative of Massachusetts and a devout Puritan, Samuel Adams showed great wisdom at this time. He acted quietly and waited silently for the opportunity. Finally, with the help of the Puritan militia and George III, the North American colonies were put on the track to independence by Samuel Adams.Because of these decisive roles of Samuel Adams in American independence, I personally think that Washington’s contribution to American independence is far less than that of Samuel Adams. This book ranks the contributions of various founding fathers to American independence following the example of the weapons ranking list of baixiaosheng in Gu Long’s novels. My final conclusion is that Samuel Adams ranked third, John Adams graded fourth, and Washington listed only fifth. The first two were also introduced in previous articles, dating back to the colonial period.

This book presents a panoramic and in-depth view of the real American Revolution in front of you, which can completely subvert your previous views on the American Revolution. It is a good book worth reading.