Includes bibliographical references (p. 501-510) and index.
Summary
Each chapter treats one of the major architectural fashions, or styles, that have been popular over our country's past. The chapters are arranged roughly chronologically, with the earliest styles first.The opening page of each chapter features a large drawing showing the three or four most important identifying features which differentiate that style from others. The most common shapes, or principal subtypes, of each style are also pictured on the opening page, along with references to pages of photographs in the chapter that allow the reader to see quickly the common features in a range of examples from each particular style and subtype. Most chapters also includes drawings that show typical smaller details-for example, windows, doors, and roof- wall junctions-that cannot easily be seen in full- house photographs. Text supplementing the drawings and photographs discusses the identifying features, principal subtypes, variants and details, and occurrence of each style. Concluding comments provide a brief introduction to the origin and history of the style. [from the publisher]
Includes bibliographical references (p. [341]-376) and index.
Contents
A new year and a fresh start -- Politics and the social milieu -- James Buchanan : President-elect -- The President, the Chief Justice, and a slave named Scott -- The heart of the matter : slavery and sectionalism -- Popular sovereignty, Kansas style -- Dog days -- Flush times and an autumn panic -- Northern politics : the parties in equipoise -- Politics as farce : the Lecompton Constitution -- Politics as tragedy : Buchanan's decision -- 1858 : the fruits of Lecompton.
Summary
It was a year packed with unsettling events. The Panic of 1857 closed every bank in New York City, ruined thousands of businesses, and caused widespread unemployment among industrial workers. The Mormons in Utah Territory threatened rebellion when federal troops approached with a non-Morman governor to replace Brigham Young. The Supreme Court outraged northernRepublicans and abolitionists with the Dred Scott decision ("a breathtaking example of judicial activism"). etc.
"JOHN REED, A PERSON OF COLOR, had come to Pennsylvania from Maryland,representing himself as a free man, some two or three years before the events that led to hisbeing tried for two murders. To the reporters who publicized his case in the Chester CountyVillage Record,“it appeared sufficiently clear†that Reed was the child of the slave Maria, who had been a queen in her native Africa." [from the text]
v. 1. Annual message of the President ; Report of the Secretary of the Interior ; Report of the Secretary of War ; Report of the Secretary of the Navy ; Report of the Postmaster-General -- v. 2. Report of the Secretary of War --
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"]