Includes bibliographical references (pages 357-361).
Summary
Examines how the spiritual beliefs and vision of America's founders shaped the country's history and culture and assesses the influence of the spiritual traditions of African slaves, Native Americans, and early mystical communities on colonial America.
"An eclectic mixture of autobiography, U.S. intellectual history, philosophical inquiry, and spiritual wonderment, this extended meditative essay examines "America as an Idea" by uncovering the latent wisdom of many of its shining lights: Benjamin Franklin, William Penn, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Walt Whitman. Needleman, a philosophy professor and author of Money and the Meaning of Life, reinterprets the lives of each of these leaders in the context of their strong spiritual beliefs and their contributions to unifying a deeply divided body politic. The author liberally quotes classical philosophers, historians, biographers, and the subjects themselves, and he often interjects his own life experiences and spiritual beliefs into his loosely structured narrative. Needleman also tackles what he considers to be America's two most grievous historical blemishes: the murder of Native American culture and slavery and suggests how America should confront these wrongs." [from the "Library Journal"]
The ladies of the White House, or, In the home of the presidents : being a complete history of the social and domestic lives of the presidents from Washington to the present time
American Association for State and Local History book series
Notes
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Introduction: The past as context -- Creating a place -- The power of place -- Sharing the story -- Making connections -- Contemplating change -- The call of wildness -- Sustaining the future -- Touring a culture -- A wonderful place -- Under construction.
x, 205 pages, [8] pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Notes
Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-200) and index.
Contents
Setting the stage : the war, army, and community -- Martha Washington at Valley Forge : "the worthy partner of the worthiest of men" -- Martha Washington at the other encampments : a resolute and loyal lady -- Catharine Greene and Lucy Knox : the ladies come to Valley Forge -- Rebekah Biddle, Lady Stirling, and Alice Shippen at Valley Forge : "I should not be sorry to see you here" -- The women with Washington's "family" : slaves, servants, and spies -- Camp women at Valley Forge : "a caravan of wild beasts" -- Camp women with the Continental Army : cannonballs and cooking kettles -- The general returns to Valley Forge : a distinguished officer's musings -- Appendix: Making the myth of Martha Washington : nineteenth-century fantasy vs. eighteenth-century reality.
Summary
"[This book] tells the story of the forgotten women who spent the winter of 1777-78 with the Continental Army at Valley Forge -- from those on society's lowest rungs to ladies of the upper echelon. Poor, dirty beings who clung to the very edge of survival, many camp women were soldiers' wives who worked as the army's washerwomen, nurses, cooks, or seamstresses. Though these women's written correspondence is scarce, author Nancy Loane uses sources such as issued military orders, pension depositions after the war, and soldiers' descriptions to bring these women to life. Other women at the encampment were of higher status: they traveled with Washington's entourage when the army headquarters shifted from place to place and served the general as valued cooks, laundresses, or housekeepers ... Drawing from diary entries and letters, Following the drum illuminates the experiences of these ladies, including Martha Washington, Lucy Knox, and Lady Stirling, during the encampment and then traces their lives after the Revolutionary War"--Jacket.
The 1850s saw in America the breakdown of the Jacksonian party system in the North and the emergence of a new sectional party--the Republicans--that succeeded the Whigs in the nation's two-party system. This monumental work uses demographic, voting, and other statistical analysis as well as the more traditional methods and sources of political history to trace the realignment of American politics in the 1850s and the birth of the Republican party. Gienapp powerfully demonstrates that the organization of the Republican party was a difficult, complex, and lengthy process and explains why, even after an inauspicious beginning, it ultimately became a potent political force. The study also reveals the crucial role of ethnocultural factors in the collapse of the second party system and thoroughly analyzes the struggle between nativism and antislavery for political dominance in the North. The volume concludes with the decisive triumph of the Republican party over the rival American party in the 1856 presidential election. Far-reaching in scope yet detailed in analysis, this is the definitive work on the formation of the Republican party in antebellum America. ... Publisher descri[ption.
Originally published: London : Pearson Education, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [327]-360) and index.
Contents
1. Inner power : Lincoln's ambition and political vision, 1809-54 -- Ambition -- Political vision -- Moral crisis : 1854 -- The religious roots of moral power -- 2. The power of opinion : Lincoln : the Illinois public and the new political order, 1854-58 -- Lincoln, democratic politics and public opinion -- Illinois public opinion and the anti-Nebraska fusion movement -- The senatorial campaign of 1858 -- 3. The power of party : winning the presidency, 1858-60 -- Presidential ambition : Lincoln, his party and the road to the Decatur convention -- The Republican presidential nomination -- The 1860 presidential campaign : the power of a righteous party -- 4. Confronting the limits of power : from president-elect to war president, 1860-61 -- In the antechamber to power : holding the party line -- From Springfield to Sumter : building a united front -- Strategies for 'a people's war' -- 'What shall I do? The people are impatient ... ' -- 5. The purposes of power : evolving objectives, 1861-65 -- Reading the public -- 'Every indispensable means' : toward the Emancipation Proclamation -- Faith and purposes -- Faithfulness of purpose : emancipation, reconstruction and black citizenship -- 6. The instruments of power : coercion and voluntary mobilization, 1861-65 -- Coercion, repression and executive power -- Popular mobilization : the 'power of the right word' and the agency of party -- Popular mobilization : churches and philanthropic organizations -- The Union army as a moral force -- The election of 1864 : 'the second birth of our nation' -- 7. Conclusion : power in death -- Chronology of Lincoln's life.
Summary
A portrait of America's sixteenth president follows Lincoln's life and career during his rise to political power and his years in the White House, arguing that he looked beyond the political system to find support in his struggle to end slavery.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-310) and index.
Summary
Although the United States has always portrayed itself as a sanctuary for the world's victim's of poverty and oppression, anti-immigrant movements have enjoyed remarkable success throughout American history. None attained greater prominence than the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, a fraternal order referred to most commonly as the Know Nothing party. Vowing to reduce the political influence of immigrants and Catholics, the Know Nothings burst onto the American political scene in 1854, and by the end of the following year they had elected eight governors, more than one hundred congressmen, and thousands of other local officials including the mayors of Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago. After their initial successes, the Know Nothings attempted to increase their appeal by converting their network of lodges into a conventional political organization, which they christened the "American Party." Recently, historians have pointed to the Know Nothings' success as evidence that ethnic and religious issues mattered more to nineteenth-century voters than better-known national issues such as slavery. In this important book, however, Anbinder argues that the Know Nothings' phenomenal success was inextricably linked to the firm stance their northern members took against the extension of slavery. Most Know Nothings, he asserts, saw slavery and Catholicism as interconnected evils that should be fought in tandem. Although the Know Nothings certainly were bigots, their party provided an early outlet for the anti-slavery sentiment that eventually led to the Civil War. Anbinder's study presents the first comprehensive history of America's most successful anti-immigrant movement, as well as a major reinterpretation of the political crisis that led to the Civil War.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [1181]-1201) and index.
Summary
"The political home of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Horace Greeley, and the young Abraham Lincoln, the American Whig Party was represented at every level of American politics - local, state, and federal - in the years before the Civil War, and controlled the White House for eight of the twenty-two years that it existed. Now, in The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, Michael Holt gives us the only comprehensive history of the Whigs ever written - a monumental history covering in rich detail the American political landscape from the Age of Jackson to impending disunion."--BOOK JACKET.
32 pages : color illustrations, color map ; 28 cm.
Series
Colonial people
Notes
Includes index.
Contents
Quasheba's family -- Slavery in the colonies -- Slave families -- Marriage and children -- Helping one another -- The lives of slave children -- The education of slaves -- Field hands -- House servants -- Tradespeople -- Culture from Africa -- The cost of freedom.
Summary
Introduces the personal relationships and daily activities that were part of the family life of slaves in colonial America.
