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The Liberty Generation is that name given by Strauss and Howe in their book Generations to those Americans born from 1724 to 1741.
Their lifecycle drove many of them to the brink of madness. Raised in an era of spiritual upheaval and economic dislocation, Liberty children hardly knew the care and protection of close family life. The eldest arrived too late to partake in the first Great Awakening; the youngest too early to feel the nurture that welcomed a younger generation in the 1750s.
Still in their teens, this generation bore the full brunt of the French and Indian War, the colonies' last imperial struggle. They tasted bitterness and death, and learned a brutal coming-of-age lesson: Get what you can grab, keep what's yours, and never trust authority. Until their mid-forties, they cut an unparalleled swath of crime, riot, and violence through American history. Whatever their army, they always performed best as plucky warrior-bands such as the Green Mountain Boys in Vermont, the Paxton Boys in Pennsylvania, or the Liberty Boys in New York. Hit by the American Revolution in midlife, the Liberty Generation responded in characteristic frenzy, mixing heroism with treachery, scrapping with each other, and ending up distrusted by everyone. No other generation risked more for the Declaration of Independence. Nor did any other "turn Tory" in such massive numbers.
The name of the generation comes from Patrick Henry: "Give me liberty or give me death!" When his peers sang, they sang songs such as John Dickinson's The American Liberty Song or Mercy Warren's Massachusetts Liberty Song. When they acted, they organized as Sons of Liberty, planted liberty trees, and paraded around liberty poles.
Altogether, about 1,100,000 Americans were born between 1724 and 1741; 24 percent were immigrants and 19 percent were slaves at any point in their lives. Their typical grandparents were of the Glorious Generation; their parents, Enlightenment Generation and Awakening Generation. Their children were of the Republican Generation and Compromise Generation and their typical grandchildren were of the Transcendental Generation.
The following is a list of sample members with birth and death dates as this generation is fully ancestral:
The Liberty had two U.S. Presidents:
In addition eight members served as President of the Continental Congress before the U.S. Constitution was ratified:
Prominent non-U.S. born peers include:
- John Wilkes (1727-1797).
- Peter III of Russia (1728 - 1762, reigned 1762).
- Edmund Burke (1729-1797).
- Catherine II the Great of Russia (1729-1796, reigned 1762 - 1796).
- Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1730 - 1782).
- Frederick North, Lord North, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1732 - 1792).
- Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1735 - 1811).
- Jean de Crèvecoeur (1735-1813).
- William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1737 - 1805).
- William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1738 - 1809).
- George III of the United Kingdom (1738-1820, reigned 1760 - 1820).
- Ivan VI of Russia (1740 - 1764, reigned 1740 - 1741).
Their sample cultural endowments include the following:
- Battle of the Kegs, Francis Hopkinson
- Pontiac; or the Savages of America, Robert Rogers
- Death of Wolfe, painting, Benjamin West
- The Rights of the British Colonies, James Otis
- Letters from a Farmer, John Dickinson
- The Novalgus papers, John Adams
- Common Sense and The Rights of Man, pamphlets, Thomas Paine
- Fairfax Resolves and The Virginia Declaration of Rights, George Mason
- George Washington's Farewell Address
Preceded by:
Awakening Generation
1701–1723
| Liberty Generation
1724–1741
| Succeeded by:
Republican Generation
1742–1766
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