A captivating and lucid narrative of America's revolutionary generation, Jefferson's America takes the reader from the earliest rumblings of colonial dissent, through the crises of revolution and nation-making, to the heroic drama of the War of 1812. Risjord deftly weaves together strands of biography and social history with military and political history to depict the rich fabric of the young republic.
When we think of American terrorism, it is modern, individual terrorists such as Timothy McVeigh that typically spring to mind. But terrorism has existed in America since the earliest days of the colonies, when small groups participated in organized and unlawful violence in the hope of creating a state of fear for their own political purposes. Using case studies of groups such as the Green Mountain Boys, the Mollie Maguires, and the North Carolina Regulators, as well as the more widely-known Sons of Liberty and the Ku Klux Klan, Robert Kumamoto introduces readers to the long history of terrorist activity in America. Sure to incite discussion and curiosity in anyone studying terrorism or early America, The Historical Origins of Terrorism in America brings together some of the most radical groups of the American past to show that a technique that we associate with modern atrocity actually has roots much farther back in the country’s national psyche.
These essays, written by leading historian of violence and Presidential Commission consultant Richard Maxwell Brown, consider the challenges posed to American society by the criminal, turbulent, and depressed elements of American life and the violent response of the established order. Covering violent incidents from colonial American to the present, Brown presents illuminating discussions of violence and the American Revolution, black-white conflict from slave revolts to the black ghetto riots of the 1960s, the vigilante tradition, and two of America's most violent regions--Central Texas, whic.
Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician offers a fresh full-life biography of the man Thomas Jefferson once described as the helmsman of the American Revolution. In his study, historian John K. Alexander uses narrative history to argue that Samuel Adams was both America's first professional politician and its first modern politician. Adams, Alexander argues, was an unwavering politician who strove to protect the people's basic rights and who emphasized the importance of virtue, liberty, a sense of duty, and education in fashioning a republican society. John K. Alexander's fresh reading of Adams's record, and a uniquely close look into his personal life, uncovers a masterful politician and a man consistent in his beliefs.
You're no idiot, of course. You know the American Revolution started when those guys in Boston threw some tea off a boat. Or was it when Paul Revere made his famous ride? Let's face it: when it comes to knowing about our nation's struggle for independence, our grade-school memories are about as trustworthy as Benedict Arnold. Don't blush red (or white, or blue) yet! The Complete Idiot's Guide® to the American Revolution is an authoritative overview of the conflict, filled with little-known facts that will enlighten even the most educated history buff. In this Complete Idiot's Guide®, you get:
In twenty-two original essays, leading historians reveal the radical impulses at the founding of the American Republic. Here is a fresh, new reading of the American Revolution that gives voice and recognition to a generation of radical thinkers and doers whose revolutionary ideals outstripped those of the “Founding Fathers.” While the Founding Fathers advocated a break from Britain and espoused ideals of republican government, none proposed significant changes to the fabric of colonial society. Yet during this “revolutionary” period some people did believe that “liberty” meant “liberty for all” and that “equality” should be applied to political, economic, and religious spheres. Here are the stories of individuals and groups who exemplified the radical ideals of the American Revolution more in keeping with our own values today. This volume helps us to understand the social conflicts unleashed by the struggle for independence, the Revolution’s achievements, and the unfinished agenda it left to future generations to confront.
At the time that the Constitution was adopted, the 10th Amendment was intended to confirm the understanding of the States Governments Republics people. 10th Amendment expressly declares the constitutional policy of the Federal Government Republic. In the transformation from colonies to states and a colonial Federal government to a United States Federal government resulted in the wording of the 10th Amendment. The 10th Amendment states the powers not (delegated power clause) delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are (reserved power clause) reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. All any past or unknown future power belongs to the States government or the people within. The reserved power clause implies all any past or unknown future power
When members of the founding generation protested against British authority, debated separation, and then ratified the Constitution, they formed the American political character we know today-raucous, intemperate, and often mean-spirited. Revolutionary Dissent brings alive a world of colorful and stormy protests that included effigies, pamphlets, songs, sermons, cartoons, letters and liberty trees. Solomon explores through a series of chronological narratives how Americans of the Revolutionary period employed robust speech against the British and against each other. Uninhibited dissent provided a distinctly American meaning to the First Amendment's guarantees of freedom of speech and press at a time when the legal doctrine inherited from England allowed prosecutions of those who criticized government. Solomon discovers the wellspring in our revolutionary past for today's satirists like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Keith Olbermann, and protests like flag burning and street demonstrations. From the inflammatory engravings of Paul Revere, the political theater of Alexander McDougall, the liberty tree protests of Ebenezer McIntosh and the oratory of Patrick Henry, Solomon shares the stories of the dissenters who created the American idea of the liberty of thought. This is truly a revelatory work on the history of free expression in America.
The bestselling author of "Washington's Crossing" and "Albion's Seed" offers a strikingly original history of America's founding principles. Fischer examines liberty and freedom not as philosophical or political abstractions, but as folkways and popular beliefs deeply embedded in American culture. 400+ illustrations, 250 in full color.
