An ironic examination of the founding years of our country. Historian Ellis guides us through the decisive issues of the nation's founding, and illuminates the emerging philosophies, shifting alliances, and personal and political foibles of our now iconic leaders. He explains how the idea of a strong federal government, championed by Washington, was eventually embraced by the American people, the majority of whom had to be won over. And he details the emergence of the two-party system--then a political novelty--which today stands as the founders' most enduring legacy. But Ellis is equally incisive about their failures, making clear how their inability to abolish slavery and to reach a just settlement with the Native Americans has played an equally important role in shaping our national character. Ellis strips the mythic veneer of the revolutionary generation to reveal men possessed of both brilliance and blindness.--From publisher description.
American folk painting : selections from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Wiltshire III : an exhibition on display at the Virginia Museum, Richmond, November 29, 1977- January 8, 1978
Chapters: : INDIAN AND ENGLISH GEOGRAPHIES -- SHAPING THE NETWORKS OF MARITIME TRADE -- MARINERS AND COLONISTS -- INTERCOLONIAL MIGRATION -- ENGLISH ATLANTIC NETWORKS AND RELIGION IN VIRGINIA -- CHESAPEAKE SLAVERY IN ATLANTIC CONTEXT -- CROSSING BORDERS -- VIRGINIA , NORTH AMERICA , AND ENGLISH ATLANTIC EMPIRE
Summary
"Through networks of trails and rivers inland and established ocean routes across the seas, seventeenth-century Virginians were connected to a vibrant Atlantic world. They routinely traded with adjacent Native Americans and received ships from England, the Netherlands, and other English and Dutch colonies, while maintaining less direct connections to Africa and to French and Spanish colonies. Their Atlantic world emerged from the movement of goods and services, but trade routes quickly became equally important in the transfer of people and information. Much seventeenth-century historiography, however, still assumes that each North American colony operated as a largely self-contained entity and interacted with other colonies only indirectly, through London. By contrast, in Atlantic Virginia, historian April Lee Hatfield demonstrates that the colonies actually had vibrant interchange with each other and with peoples throughout the hemisphere, as well as with Europeans." [from the dust jacket]