The Contagion of Liberty: Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution

The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution by Andrew M. Wehrman

The Revolutionary War broke out during a smallpox epidemic, and in response, General George Washington ordered the inoculation of the Continental Army. But Washington did not have to convince fearful colonists to protect themselves against smallpox--they were the ones demanding it. In The book describes a revolution within a revolution, where the violent insistence for freedom from disease ultimately helped American colonists achieve independence from Great Britain. Inoculation, a shocking procedure introduced to America by an enslaved African, became the most sought-after medical procedure of the eighteenth century. Across the colonies, poor Americans rioted for equal access to medicine, while cities and towns shut down for quarantines. This offers a new dimension to our understanding of both the American Revolution and the origins of public health in the US. The miraculous discovery of vaccination in the early 1800s posed new challenges that upended the revolutionaries' dream of disease eradication, and Wehrman reveals that the quintessentially American rejection of universal health care systems has deeper roots than previously known.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TbKrwd4c-0 2 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIsAkL1ipCM 40 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSiPeMJ_nCs 60 min
1 copy in library system, 7 copies available from host