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1) Common sense
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"Thomas Paine's Common Sense first appeared on January 10, 1776, and the stroke of luck it enjoyed upon its appearance could hardly have been calculated to great effect. The political tract immediately became the moral and intellectual touchstone for American colonists struggling to articulate their case for independence from England. It sold over 120,000 copies within three months of its publication. the United States of America owes its existence...
2) John Adams
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Profiles John Adams, an influential patriot during the American Revolution who became the nation's first vice president and second president.
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Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us -- an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. In bestselling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time...
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From the first shots fired at Lexington to the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase, Joseph J. Ellis guides us through the decisive issues of the nation’s founding, and illuminates the emerging philosophies, shifting alliances, and personal and political foibles of our now iconic leaders–Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, and Adams. He casts an incisive eye on the founders’...
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In Inventing a Nation, National Book Award winner Gore Vidal transports the reader into the minds, the living rooms (and bedrooms), the convention halls, and the salons of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and others. We come to know these men, through Vidal's splendid prose, in ways we have not up to now-their opinions of each other, their worries about money, their concerns about creating a viable democracy. Vidal brings them to life...
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In this brilliantly illuminating group portrait of the men who came to be known as the Founding Fathers, the incomparable Gordon Wood has written a book that seriously asks, "What made these men great?" and shows us, among many other things, just how much character did in fact matter. The life of each Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, Paine is presented individually as well as collectively, but the thread that binds these...
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A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the American Revolution explains why it remains the most significant event in our history. In a series of elegant and illuminating essays, Wood explores the ideological origins of the revolution--from ancient Rome to the European Enlightenment--and the founders' attempts to forge an American democracy.
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"The Declaration of Independence was the American colonists' formal declaration that they no longer wanted to be part of Great Britain. Instead, they wanted to be able to decide on their own laws and support only themselves, not another country half a world away. This volume explores what is in the Declaration of Independence and the effects the document had on what is now the United States. Through accessible text, augmented with fact boxes, critical-thinking...
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From the award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of Seward and Stanton, here is the critically acclaimed and definitive biography of John Jay: a major Founding Father, a true national hero, and a leading architect of America's future. John Jay was a central figure in the early history of the American Republic. A New York lawyer, born in 1745, Jay served his country with the greatest distinction, and was one of the most influential of...
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An Imperfect God is a major new biography of Washington, and the first to explore his engagement with American slavery
When George Washington wrote his will, he made the startling decision to set his slaves free; earlier he had said that holding slaves was his "only unavoidable subject of regret." In this groundbreaking work, Henry Wiencek explores the founding father's engagement with slavery at every stage of his life--as a Virginia planter, soldier,...
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PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the pivotal figure in colonial and revolutionary America, comes vividly to life in this “thorough biography of ... America’s first Renaissance man” (The Washington Post) by the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War.
"The authoritative Franklin biography for our...
"The authoritative Franklin biography for our...
13) What are the Articles of Confederation?: and other questions about the birth of the United States
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Answers questions about the Articles of Confederation and the circumstances around its creation and dismissal.
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"The story of history is a ceaseless conversation between past and present, and in American Dialogue Joseph J. Ellis focuses the conversation on the often-asked question "What would the Founding Fathers think?" He examines four of our most seminal historical figures through the prism of particular topics, using the perspective of the present to shed light on their views and, in turn, to make clear how their now centuries-old ideas illuminate the disturbing...
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Winner of the 2007 Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award!
Samuel Adams is perhaps the most unheralded and overshadowed of the founding fathers, yet without him there would have been no American Revolution. A genius at devising civil protests and political maneuvers that became a trademark of American politics, Adams astutely forced Britain into coercive military measures that ultimately led to the irreversible split in the empire. His remarkable political...
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By the 1760's, most American colonists had become fed up with British rule. They were tired of the unfair taxes and not being able to create their own laws, and cries for revolution were ringing out across the land. As the revolution took hold, Thomas Jefferson drafted a document that formally declared the colonies' independence. The adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, marked an important turning point in US history. Over...
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What the two great modern revolutions can teach us about democracy today.
In 1790, the American diplomat and politician Governor Morris compared the French and American Revolutions, saying that the French "have taken Genius instead of Reason for their guide, adopted Experiment instead of Experience, and wander in the Dark because they prefer Lightning to Light." Although both revolutions professed similar Enlightenment ideals of freedom, equality,...
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"It's a core founding document of the United States of America-but did you know that when news of it reached New York City in 1776, it started a riot? The Declaration of Independence changed the world! In this book, young readers will learn more about its impact, its creators, and its famous words. Photographs and artwork highlight the easily understandable text, and graphic organizers showcase even more interesting information"--Provided by publisher....
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Maier describes the transformation of the Second Continental Congress into a national government, unlike anything that preceded or followed it, and with more authority than the colonists would ever have conceded to the British Parliament.
In Maier's hands, the Declaration of Independence is brought close to us. She lets us hear the voice of the people as revealed in the other "declarations" of 1776: the local resolutions-most of which have gone...
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