Contains alphabetically arranged entries that provide information on the Founding Fathers, their actions, and their intentions in writing the U.S. Constitution.
An authoritative, accessible guide to the figures who shaped a nation How did upstart colonists solidify the ideas celebrated in the Declaration of Independence and defeat the powerful British army? How did thinkers from disparate backgrounds shape a government that transformed modern politics? The Founding Fathers explains how, putting valuable information on this historic period at your fingertips--straight from one of the most trusted sources of information around the globe. This comprehensive guide takes a compelling look at prominent statesmen such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and George Washington and lesser-known but influential leaders such as Samuel Chase, Charles Pinckney, and others. Alphabetized for easy reference, it also offers discussions of key issues, including slavery, the separation of powers, the presidency, and Deism and Christianity; events, such as the American Revolution, the Whiskey Rebellion, and the Louisiana Purchase; and documents, including the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Every special essay and concise entry--from "Abigail Adams" to "George Wythe"--promotes the deeper understanding of the personalities, issues, and events that only Encyclop?dia Britannica can provide. The book's balanced, fact-based coverage of the Founding Fathers is especially relevant today, when differing interpretations of their intent are used in debates over current policies. The Founding Fathers is the ideal resource for anyone looking to hone his or her knowledge of the fascinating figures who wrote the first chapter of U.S. history.
An authoritative, accessible guide to the figures who shaped a nation How did upstart colonists solidify the ideas celebrated in the Declaration of Independence and defeat the powerful British army? How did thinkers from disparate backgrounds shape a government that transformed modern politics? The Founding Fathers explains how, putting valuable information on this historic period at your fingertips--straight from one of the most trusted sources of information around the globe. This comprehensive guide takes a compelling look at prominent statesmen such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and George Washington and lesser-known but influential leaders such as Samuel Chase, Charles Pinckney, and others. Alphabetized for easy reference, it also offers discussions of key issues, including slavery, the separation of powers, the presidency, and Deism and Christianity; events, such as the American Revolution, the Whiskey Rebellion, and the Louisiana Purchase; and documents, including the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Every special essay and concise entry--from ""Abigail Adams"" to ""George Wythe""--promotes the deeper understanding of the personalities, issues, and events that only Encyclop'dia Britannica can provide. The book's balanced, fact-based coverage of the Founding Fathers is especially relevant today, when differing interpretations of their intent are used in debates over current policies. The Founding Fathers is the ideal resource for anyone looking to hone his or her knowledge of the fascinating figures who wrote the first chapter of U.S. history.
Kostyal tells the story of the great American heroes who created the Declaration of Independence, fought the American Revolution, shaped the US Constitution--and changed the world. The era's dramatic events, from the riotous streets in Boston to the unlikely victory at Saratoga, are punctuated with lavishly illustrated biographies of the key founders--Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison--who shaped the very idea of America. An introduction and ten expertly-rendered National Geographic maps round out this ideal gift for history buff and student alike. Filled with beautiful illustrations, maps, and inspired accounts from the men and women who made America, Founding Fathers brings the birth of the new nation to light.
A fascinating and illuminating account of how George Washington became the dominant force in the creation of the United States of America, from award-winning author David O. Stewart “An outstanding biography . . . [George Washington] has a narrative drive such a life deserves.”—The Wall Street Journal Washington's rise constitutes one of the greatest self-reinventions in history. In his mid-twenties, this third son of a modest Virginia planter had ruined his own military career thanks to an outrageous ego. But by his mid-forties, that headstrong, unwise young man had evolved into an unassailable leader chosen as the commander in chief of the fledgling Continental Army. By his mid-fifties, he was unanimously elected the nation's first president. How did Washington emerge from the wilderness to become the central founder of the United States of America? In this remarkable new portrait, award-winning historian David O. Stewart unveils the political education that made Washington a master politician—and America's most essential leader. From Virginia's House of Burgesses, where Washington mastered the craft and timing of a practicing politician, to his management of local government as a justice of the Fairfax County Court to his eventual role in the Second Continental Congress and his grueling generalship in the American Revolution, Washington perfected the art of governing and service, earned trust, and built bridges. The lessons in leadership he absorbed along the way would be invaluable during the early years of the republic as he fought to unify the new nation.
The authors chronicle how a different group of nine founding fathers forged the wealth and institutions necessary to transform the American colonies from a diffuse alliance of contending business interests into one cohesive economic superpower.
The surprising story of how George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson came to despair for the future of the nation they had created Americans seldom deify their Founding Fathers any longer, but they do still tend to venerate the Constitution and the republican government that the founders created. Strikingly, the founders themselves were far less confident in what they had wrought, particularly by the end of their lives. In fact, most of them—including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson—came to deem America’s constitutional experiment an utter failure that was unlikely to last beyond their own generation. Fears of a Setting Sun is the first book to tell the fascinating and too-little-known story of the founders’ disillusionment. As Dennis Rasmussen shows, the founders’ pessimism had a variety of sources: Washington lost his faith in America’s political system above all because of the rise of partisanship, Hamilton because he felt that the federal government was too weak, Adams because he believed that the people lacked civic virtue, and Jefferson because of sectional divisions laid bare by the spread of slavery. The one major founder who retained his faith in America’s constitutional order to the end was James Madison, and the book also explores why he remained relatively optimistic when so many of his compatriots did not. As much as Americans today may worry about their country’s future, Rasmussen reveals, the founders faced even graver problems and harbored even deeper misgivings. A vividly written account of a chapter of American history that has received too little attention, Fears of a Setting Sun will change the way that you look at the American founding, the Constitution, and indeed the United States itself.
In this book, the author cuts through historical uncertainty to accurately portray the religious beliefs of 11 of America's founding fathers. (Motivation)
How did the United States, founded as colonies with explicitly religious aspirations, come to be the first modern state whose commitment to the separation of church and state was reflected in its constitution? Frank Lambert explains why this happened, offering in the process a synthesis of American history from the first British arrivals through Thomas Jefferson's controversial presidency. Lambert recognizes that two sets of spiritual fathers defined the place of religion in early America: what Lambert calls the Planting Fathers, who brought Old World ideas and dreams of building a "City upon a Hill," and the Founding Fathers, who determined the constitutional arrangement of religion in the new republic. While the former proselytized the "one true faith," the latter emphasized religious freedom over religious purity. Lambert locates this shift in the mid-eighteenth century. In the wake of evangelical revival, immigration by new dissenters, and population expansion, there emerged a marketplace of religion characterized by sectarian competition, pluralism, and widened choice. During the American Revolution, dissenters found sympathetic lawmakers who favored separating church and state, and the free marketplace of religion gained legal status as the Founders began the daunting task of uniting thirteen disparate colonies. To avoid discord in an increasingly pluralistic and contentious society, the Founders left the religious arena free of government intervention save for the guarantee of free exercise for all. Religious people and groups were also free to seek political influence, ensuring that religion's place in America would always be a contested one, but never a state-regulated one. An engaging and highly readable account of early American history, this book shows how religious freedom came to be recognized not merely as toleration of dissent but as a natural right to be enjoyed by all Americans.