Bringing to life the complex creeds and personalities of America's Founding Fathers, this book confronts many of the myths about the religious views of some of the most notable figures in history. Offering clear and candid portraits of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Paine, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison as both religious reformers and political rebels, this analysis tells the illuminating story of these unorthodox men of faith and thought and reclaims their spiritual inheritance for all Americans. Providing a careful examination of how the Founders’ nature-based spirituality was tied to their fascination with science, this record includes discussions on Washington’s aversion to using the word "God" in public pronouncements, Jefferson's mathematical calculations to show that the biblical great flood would have been impossible, and Paine's thoughts on the possibilities of alien life.
"Succeeding admirably in condensing the best quotes from around twenty thousand letters, this book will awaken some readers to the wit and wisdom of Jefferson, and enable others to rediscover it.
The distress of the Boston garrison was treated as a temporary difficulty which would end as soon as an adequate ... S. enior alarm North British sounded America. officials over King illicit generally George's arms heeded own and ...
An engaging biography of Benjamin Franklin, published on the tricentennial of his birth, offers a marvelous portrait of this towering colonial figure, who, with only two years of formal education, managed to lead one of the most ...
The bloody raid reinforced the hatred and distain that his former countrymen held for Benedict Arnold, but it did little lasting damage. The town of New London was rebuilt, and American privateers soon resumed their operations against ...
Winter Quarters: George Washington and the Continental Army at Valley Forge
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... Serge Corvington, and Jerome Stoker of the American History Division, Maude D. Cole, Francis Mattson, ... Virginia Historical Society: Howson W. Cole; Archivo General de Indias, Seville: Rosario EDITORS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xxxvii Parra ...
On the day that Lee and Clinton arrived, Thomas Lynch called on William Smith. This fifty-one-year-old grandson of an Irish immigrant was one of the wealthiest men in South Carolina. Yet his Irish ancestry had prompted him to take the ...
Wakin, Daniel J. “Pastor's Call to Arms in 1776 Has Echoes in 2003.” New York Reportin New York Times, March 16, 2003. Warren, ———. “Uniform of the Revolutionary Army.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Vol.
John C. Miller, Sam Adams (Stanford, Calif.; Stanford University Press, 1936), pp. 343–44. Details on this historiography can be found in Maier, Old Revolutionaries, op.cit., pp. 3-50. Irvin, op.cit., pp. 103-4. Miller, Sam Adams ...