A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American RepublicOxford University Press, 12. jun. 2003 - 576 strani It was an age of fascinating leaders and difficult choices, of grand ideas eloquently expressed and of epic conflicts bitterly fought. Now comes a brilliant portrait of the American Revolution, one that is compelling in its prose, fascinating in its details, and provocative in its fresh interpretations. In A Leap in the Dark, John Ferling offers a magisterial new history that surges from the first rumblings of colonial protest to the volcanic election of 1800. Ferling's swift-moving narrative teems with fascinating details. We see Benjamin Franklin trying to decide if his loyalty was to Great Britain or to America, and we meet George Washington when he was a shrewd planter-businessman who discovered personal economic advantages to American independence. We encounter those who supported the war against Great Britain in 1776, but opposed independence because it was a "leap in the dark." Following the war, we hear talk in the North of secession from the United States. The author offers a gripping account of the most dramatic events of our history, showing just how closely fought were the struggle for independence, the adoption of the Constitution, and the later battle between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Yet, without slowing the flow of events, he has also produced a landmark study of leadership and ideas. Here is all the erratic brilliance of Hamilton and Jefferson battling to shape the new nation, and here too is the passion and political shrewdness of revolutionaries, such as Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry, and their Loyalist counterparts, Joseph Galloway and Thomas Hutchinson. Here as well are activists who are not so well known today, men like Abraham Yates, who battled for democratic change, and Theodore Sedgwick, who fought to preserve the political and social system of the colonial past. Ferling shows that throughout this period the epic political battles often resembled today's politics and the politicians--the founders--played a political hardball attendant with enmities, selfish motivations, and bitterness. The political stakes, this book demonstrates, were extraordinary: first to secure independence, then to determine the meaning of the American Revolution. John Ferling has shown himself to be an insightful historian of our Revolution, and an unusually skillful writer. A Leap in the Dark is his masterpiece, work that provokes, enlightens, and entertains in full measure. |
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... hope for appeared to be a life as a middling planter. With a bit of luck, he might someday be a man of consequence locally, but without great wealth and the power it could muster, and devoid of a formal education—the opportunity for ...
... hope for appeared to be a life as a middling planter. With a bit of luck, he might someday be a man of consequence locally, but without great wealth and the power it could muster, and devoid of a formal education—the opportunity for ...
Stran
... hope to earn more than £30 a year, Franklin enjoyed an annual income in excess of £2,000. He had been inordinately successful, and not just in material terms. He had become a leading figure in Philadelphia. He not only impressed people ...
... hope to earn more than £30 a year, Franklin enjoyed an annual income in excess of £2,000. He had been inordinately successful, and not just in material terms. He had become a leading figure in Philadelphia. He not only impressed people ...
Stran
... hope of avoiding the fate of those in the old country, he said, was to wrest control of transAppalachia from its rivals, then remove the Indians. Franklin's object was to make the British Empire the world's largest and most powerful ...
... hope of avoiding the fate of those in the old country, he said, was to wrest control of transAppalachia from its rivals, then remove the Indians. Franklin's object was to make the British Empire the world's largest and most powerful ...
Stran
... hope existed of the provinces acting in concert to overcome the common threat unless a confederation existed to provide central guidance. That very spring, in fact, as these delegates well knew, only South Carolina had responded with ...
... hope existed of the provinces acting in concert to overcome the common threat unless a confederation existed to provide central guidance. That very spring, in fact, as these delegates well knew, only South Carolina had responded with ...
Stran
... hope for the best. Form a union, Franklin said, extend greater sway to London than ever before, and “make as good a night of it as we can.24” Some deliberation also took place over the colonists' freedom of trade with other imperial ...
... hope for the best. Form a union, Franklin said, extend greater sway to London than ever before, and “make as good a night of it as we can.24” Some deliberation also took place over the colonists' freedom of trade with other imperial ...
Vsebina
To Crush the Spirit of the Colonies | |
To Die Freemen Rather Than to Live Slaves | |
This Wilderness of Darkness Dangers | |
The Present Paroxysm of Our Affairs | |
Prosperous at Home Respectable Abroad | |
A Colossus to the Antirepublican Party | |
A Game Where Principles Are the Stake | |
The Gigg Is Up | |
Abbreviations | |
Index | |
Druge izdaje - Prikaži vse
A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic John Ferling Predogled ni na voljo - 2003 |
A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic John E. Ferling Predogled ni na voljo - 2003 |
Pogosti izrazi in povedi
Adams’s American Revolution Andrew Oliver AngloAmerican AntiFederalists army Articles of Confederation assembly believed Boston Boston Massacre Britain British Burr campaign colonies colonists commercial committee Confederation Congress congressmen Constitution Continental Continental army Continental Congress Convention crisis Declaration delegates Dickinson early election electoral England faction feared Federalists Ferling France Franklin French Furthermore Galloway governor Hamilton Hamiltonianism hope House Hutchinson imperial independence Jay Treaty Jefferson Jensen John Adams June knew liberty London Madison March Massachusetts merchants military Morris mother country national government nationalists never North Ohio Country Oliver Parliament party peace Pennsylvania Philadelphia Philadelphia Convention political popular president president’s proposed provinces radical ratification Republic Republicans Revolutionary Samuel Adams secure Sedgwick Sept soldiers sought Stamp Act Tea Act Thomas TJ to JM treaty Union United Virginia vote Washington wished York