Who Were the Founding Fathers?: Two Hundred Years of Reinventing American HistoryMacmillan, 1996 M10 15 - 227 pages The history of our revolution will be one continued lye from one end to the other. The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's electrical rod, smote the Earth and out sprung General Washington. --John Adams to Benjamin Rush, April 4, 1790 From the beginning of the American Revolution to the very latest talk show and court case, Americans have argued over the Founding Fathers. Not only have we questioned the motives, meaning, and purpose of their actions, we have fought over who they actually were: only signers of the Declaration? soldiers on the front? women in the homes? slaves in the fields? Who were the Founding Fathers? America was founded relatively recently, and by people whose lives we can trace. Deciding what we think of the Founders also means determining what we stand for as a country. As labor unions and company lawyers, Confederates and Abolitionists, American Nazis and American Communists, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X have sought to speak for America, they too have defined and redefined the Founders. In this lively, photo-filled look at the one question that has always been at the center of American life, author Steven Jaffe shows that the debate over the Founders is not so much about their time as it is the neverending search for the soul of our nation. Steven H. Jaffe received his Ph.D. in American history from Harvard University, where he taught for eight years. Now senior historian at the South Street Seaport Museum, he lives with his wife and son in Brooklyn, New York. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
Anybody Ever See Washington | 36 |
This Fourth of July Is Yours Not Mine | 52 |
The Disease of Democracy | 77 |
One Hundred Percent Americans | 97 |
A Slobbery Mass of Flubdub | 116 |
Like the Dark Days of Valley Forge | 130 |
Common terms and phrases
abolitionists African-Americans Alexander Hamilton American history American Revolution argued Army asserted became Benjamin Franklin Bicentennial birthday Bork Boston British Burr businessmen celebrated century cities Civil colonies Communist Congress Constitution Courtesy created Crispus Attucks Declaration of Independence democracy Democratic Democratic-Republicans Ellet equality Europe farmers federal Federalist feminists fight fought Founders Founding Fathers freedom French George Washington German German-Americans Haym Salomon hero historians hundred ideas Image immigrants Indians Jews John Adams July King Kosciuszko labor land leaders liberty Lincoln lives Malcolm Malcolm X McCarthy Michael Kammen millions Monticello nation Nazi Nixon numbers Paine Paine's patriots Peterson Philadelphia political politicians Populists president protest pursuit of happiness radical Republican revolutionary Roosevelt Sally Hemings Sampson slavery slaves society soldiers Southern speech Steuben struggle Thomas Jefferson Thomas Paine tion troops Union United University Press Valley Forge wartime Watergate wealthy William women workers writers wrote York young
References to this book
American Extremism: History, Politics and the Militia Movement Darren Mulloy No preview available - 2004 |