Roots of the Republic shows how the Constitution was a product, not simply of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but of a legal and philosophical tradition almost two centuries old. The editors have selected eighteen key documents in the development of that tradition and reproduced them with essays that explain what they mean, why they were written, and why they are important today. Each key document is accompanied by an interpretive essay written by a contemporary scholar. These essay...

**From the author of Alexander Hamilton, the New York Times bestselling biography that inspired the musical, comes a gripping portrait of the first president of the United States.Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography“Truly magnificent . . . [a] well-researched, well-written and absolutely definitive biography” —Andrew Roberts, The Wall Street Journal“Until recently, I’d never believed that there could be such a thing as a truly gripping b...

"Common Sense" is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–76 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. The Thirteen Colonies were a group of British colonies on the east coast of North America founded in the 17th and 18th centuries that declared independence in 1776 and formed the United States of America.Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809) was an English-American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary.

In a miracle of concision, Paul S. Boyer provides a wide-ranging and authoritative history of America, capturing in a compact space the full story of our nation. Ranging from the earliest Native American settlers to the presidency of Barack Obama, this Very Short Introduction offers an illuminating account of politics, diplomacy, and war as well as the full spectrum of social, cultural, and scientific developments that shaped our country. Here is a masterful picture of America's achievemen...

John Fiske was an American philosopher and historian who wrote letters to Charles Darwin and became a voluminous writer of histories near the end of his life. The largest part of his life was devoted to the study of history, but at an early age inquiries into the nature of human progress led him to a careful study of the doctrine of evolution, and it was through the popularization of Charles Darwin's work that he first became known to the public. He applied himself to the philosophical int...

Written from a strikingly fresh perspective, this new account of the Boston Tea Party and the origins of the American Revolution shows how a lethal blend of politics, personalities, and economics led to a war that few people welcomed but nobody could prevent.In this powerful but fair-minded narrative, British author Nick Bunker tells the story of the last three years of mutual embitterment that preceded the outbreak of America’s war for independence in 1775. It was a trage...

*Includes Benjamin Franklins Autobiography and a chronology of his life, John Woolmans Journal, and William Penns Fruits of Solitude. *Illustrated with images of Franklin, Woolman, and Penn. The Harvard Classics series is an incredible collection of the most important literary works, compiled by Charles Eliot (1834 1926), then president of Harvard University. Eliot stated that a liberal arts education could be supplemented by reading 15 minutes a day from classic works stored on a five foot...

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-movi...

*Weaves the lives of the 4 Sons of Liberty together into one entertaining and educational narrative. *Explains the relationships between the men and the roles each one played in the pivotal events before and during the Revolution.*Includes Paul Revere's account of his midnight ride and Longfellow's famous poem Paul Revere's Ride*Includes several letters and writings from John Adams, Sam Adams and John Hancock. *Includes an original introduction for each of the 4 Sons of Liberty.For over 200 y...

One of the most famous revolutions in history, the American Revolution (1775-1783) was the political upheaval in which 13 distinct colonies in North America banded together to cast off British rule, forming the United States of America. After the shot heard round the world on April 19, 1775, at the Battle of Lexington, the colonies sent representatives to the Second Continental Congress, the new states joined together at first to defend their respective self-governance and manage the armed c...

John Marshall (September 24, 1755 July 6, 1835) is perhaps Americas greatest jurist. As the Chief Justice of the United States from 180135, Marshalls opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches. Previously, Marshall had been a leader of the Federalist Party in Virginia and served in the United States House of Representatives from 1799 to 1800. He ...

Covering more than two centuries, The Beaver Men recounts the beginning of the beaver trade along the St. Lawrence to the last great rendezvous of traders and trappers on Ham’s Fork, in what is now Wyoming, in 1834. The Beaver Men is the third in Mari Sandoz’s trilogy of books narrating the history of the American West in relation to an animal species.