The Last Founding Father

The Last Founding Father PDF Author: Harlow Giles Unger
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0786745878
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author, the larger than life story of America's fifth president, who transformed a small, fragile nation into a powerful empire In this compelling biography, award-winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals the epic story of James Monroe (1758-1831)-the last of America's Founding Fathers-who transformed a small, fragile nation beset by enemies into a powerful empire stretching "from sea to shining sea." Like David McCullough's John Adams and Jon Meacham's American Lion, The Last Founding Father is both a superb read and stellar scholarship-action-filled history in the grand tradition.

The Last Founding Father

The Last Founding Father PDF Author: Harlow Giles Unger
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0786745878
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 402

Get Book Here

Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author, the larger than life story of America's fifth president, who transformed a small, fragile nation into a powerful empire In this compelling biography, award-winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals the epic story of James Monroe (1758-1831)-the last of America's Founding Fathers-who transformed a small, fragile nation beset by enemies into a powerful empire stretching "from sea to shining sea." Like David McCullough's John Adams and Jon Meacham's American Lion, The Last Founding Father is both a superb read and stellar scholarship-action-filled history in the grand tradition.

Dr. Benjamin Rush

Dr. Benjamin Rush PDF Author: Harlow Giles Unger
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0306824337
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
A gripping, often startling biography of the Founding Father of an America that other Founding Fathers forgot--an America of women, African Americans, Jews, Roman Catholics, Quakers, indentured workers, the poor, the mentally ill, and war veterans Ninety percent of Americans could not vote and did not enjoy rights to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness when our Founding Fathers proclaimed, "all men are created equal." Alone among those who signed the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush heard the cries of those other, deprived Americans and stepped forth as the nation's first great humanitarian and social reformer. Remembered primarily as America's leading, most influential physician, Rush led the Founding Fathers in calling for abolition of slavery, equal rights for women, improved medical care for injured troops, free health care for the poor, slum clearance, citywide sanitation, an end to child labor, free universal public education, humane treatment and therapy for the mentally ill, prison reform, and an end to capital punishment. Using archival material from Edinburgh, London, Paris, and Philadelphia, as well as significant new materials from Rush's descendants and historical societies, Harlow Giles Unger's new biography restores Benjamin Rush to his rightful place in American history as the Founding Father of modern American medical care and psychiatry.

First Founding Father

First Founding Father PDF Author: Harlow Giles Unger
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0306825627
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Before Washington, before Jefferson, before Franklin or John Adams, there was Lee--Richard Henry Lee, the First Founding Father Richard Henry Lee was first to call for independence, first to call for union, and first to call for a bill of rights to protect Americans against government tyranny. A towering figure in America's Revolutionary War, Lee was as much the "father of our country" as George Washington, for it was Lee who secured the political and diplomatic victories that ensured Washington's military victories. Lee was critical in holding Congress together at a time when many members sought to surrender or flee the approach of British troops. Risking death on the gallows for defying British rule, Lee charged into battle himself to prevent British landings along the Virginia coast--despite losing most of his left hand in an explosion. A stirring, action-packed biography, First Founding Father will startle most Americans with the revelation that many historians have ignored for more than two centuries: Richard Henry Lee, not Thomas Jefferson, was the author of America's original Declaration of Independence.

Franklin

Franklin PDF Author: James Srodes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1596982225
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
Historian and biographer James Srodes tells Benjamin Franklin's incredible life story, making full use of the previously neglected Franklin papers to provide the most riveting account yet of the journalist, scientist, polilician, and unlikely adventurer. From London, Paris, Philadelphia to his numerous romantic liaisons, Franklin's life becomes a panorama of dramatic history.

Founding Father

Founding Father PDF Author: Richard Brookhiser
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684831422
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
"Revisits the spectacular career of George Washington, at once our most familiar and enigmatic president. Challenging the modern perceptions of Washington as either a political figurehead of little actual importance or a folk legend rather than a real man, Brookhiser traces the president's amazing accomplishments as a statesman, soldier, and founder of a great nation in a quarter century of activity that remains unmatched by any modern leader. Brookhiser goes on to examine Washington's education, ideals, and intellectual curiosity, illuminating how Washington's character and values shaped the beginnings of American politics."--Page 4 of cover.

James Madison

James Madison PDF Author: Robert Allen Rutland
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 9780826211415
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Available for the first time in paperback, James Madison: The Founding Father is a lively portrait of the man who essentially fathered our constitutional guarantees of civil and religious liberty. Focusing on the role Madison played at the Continental Congress and in each stage of the formation of the American Republic, Robert Allen Rutland also covers Madison's relationship with his beloved wife, Dolley, his fifty-year friendship with Thomas Jefferson, and his years as a respected elder statesman after serving as secretary of state and fourth president of the United States.

Not Your Usual Founding Father

Not Your Usual Founding Father PDF Author: Benjamin Franklin
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300126884
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
An eminent Franklin scholar introduces us to the gregarious founding father who would be a welcome guest at any dinner table This engaging book reveals Benjamin Franklin's human side--his tastes and habits, his enthusiasms, and his devotion to democracy and the people of the United States. Three hundred years after his birth, we may remember Franklin's famous Autobiography, or his status as framer of the Declaration of Independence and the peace with Great Britain, or his experiments in electricity, or perhaps his sage advice on diligence and thrift. But historian Edmund S. Morgan invites us to meet the man himself, a sociable, good-natured, and extraordinary human being with boundless curiosity about the natural world and a vision of what America could be. Drawing on lifelong research in the vast Franklin archives, Morgan assembles both famous and lesser-known writings that offer insights into this founding father's thinking. The book is organized around four major themes, each with an introduction. The first section includes journal excerpts and letters revealing Franklin's personal tastes and habits. The second is devoted to Franklin's inexhaustible intellectual energy and his scientific discoveries. The third and fourth chronicle his devotion to serving the people who became the United States both before and after the Revolution and to advancing his democratic vision of their future. Franklin's humanity and genius have never seemed more real than in the pages of this appealing anthology.

George Washington

George Washington PDF Author: David O. Stewart
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0451489004
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 577

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Book Description
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 Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers

The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers PDF Author: Thomas Fleming
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061959634
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
A compelling, intimate look at the founders—George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison—and the women who played essential roles in their lives With his usual storytelling flair and unparalleled research, Tom Fleming examines the women who were at the center of the lives of the founding fathers. From hot-tempered Mary Ball Washington to promiscuous Rachel Lavien Hamilton, the founding fathers' mothers powerfully shaped their sons' visions of domestic life. But lovers and wives played more critical roles as friends and often partners in fame. We learn of the youthful Washington's tortured love for the coquettish Sarah Fairfax, wife of his close friend; of Franklin's two "wives," one in London and one in Philadelphia; of Adams's long absences, which required a lonely, deeply unhappy Abigail to keep home and family together for years on end; of Hamilton's adulterous betrayal of his wife and then their reconciliation; of how the brilliant Madison was jilted by a flirtatious fifteen-year-old and went on to marry the effervescent Dolley, who helped make this shy man into a popular president. Jefferson's controversial relationship to Sally Hemings is also examined, with a different vision of where his heart lay. Fleming nimbly takes us through a great deal of early American history, as his founding fathers strove to reconcile the private and public, often beset by a media every bit as gossip seeking and inflammatory as ours today. He offers a powerful look at the challenges women faced in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While often brilliant and articulate, the wives of the founding fathers all struggled with the distractions and dangers of frequent childbearing and searing anxiety about infant mortality—Jefferson's wife, Martha, died from complications following labor, as did his daughter. All the more remarkable, then, that these women loomed so large in the lives of their husbands—and, in some cases, their country.

George Mason

George Mason PDF Author: William G. Hyland
Publisher: Regnery History
ISBN: 1621579263
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 527

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Book Description
George Mason was a short, bookish man who was a friend and neighbor of athletic, broad-shouldered George Washington. Unlike Washington, Mason has been virtually forgotton by history. But this new biography of forgotten patriot George Mason makes a convincing case that Mason belongs in the pantheon of honored Founding Fathers. Trained in the law, Mason was also a farmer, philosopher, botanist, and musician. He was one of the architects of the Declaration of Independence, an author of the Bill of Rights, and one of the strongest proponents of religious liberty in American history. In fact, both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison may have been given undue credit for George Mason's own contributions to American democracy.