The quartet [LP] orchestrating the second American Revolution, 1783-1789
From Pulitzer Prize -- winning American historian Joseph J. Ellis, the unexpected story of why the thirteen colonies, having just fought off the imposition of a distant centralized governing power, would decide to subordinate themselves anew. We all know the famous opening phrase of Lincoln's G...
| Main Author: | Ellis, Joseph J. (Author) |
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| Format: | Books Print Book Large Print |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[New York] :
Random House Large Print,
[2015]
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
From Pulitzer Prize -- winning American historian Joseph J. Ellis, the unexpected story of why the thirteen colonies, having just fought off the imposition of a distant centralized governing power, would decide to subordinate themselves anew. We all know the famous opening phrase of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this Continent a new Nation." The truth is different. In 1776, thirteen American colonies declared themselves independent states that only temporarily joined forces in order to defeat the British. Once victorious, they planned to go their separate ways. The triumph of the American Revolution was neither an ideological nor a political guarantee that the colonies would relinquish their independence and accept the creation of a federal government with power over their autonomy as states. The Quartet is the story of this second American founding and of the men most responsible -- George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. These men, with the help of Robert Morris and Gouverneur Morris, shaped the contours of American history by diagnosing the systemic dysfunctions created by the Articles of Confederation, manipulating the political process to force the calling of the Constitutional Convention, conspiring to set the agenda in Philadelphia, orchestrating the debate in the state ratifying conventions, and, finally, drafting the Bill of Rights to assure state compliance with the constitutional settlement. Ellis has given us a gripping and dramatic portrait of one of the most crucial and misconstrued periods in American history: the years between the end of the Revolution and the formation of the federal government. The Quartet unmasks a myth, and in its place presents an even more compelling truth -- one that lies at the heart of understanding the creation of the United States of America.--Amazon.com |
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| Physical Description: |
464 pages (large print) ; 24 cm. |
| ISBN: |
9780804194655 0804194653 : |
| Author Notes: |
He was an instructor in the department of American studies at Yale University from 1968 to 1969 and an assistant professor in the department of history and social studies at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from 1969 to 1972. He began his career at Mount Holyoke College as assistant professor in the department of history in 1972 and was made professor in 1979. Ellis was dean of the faculty at Mount Holyoke from 1980 to 1990. He retired from his position as the Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College. He is the author of numerous books including After the Revolution: Profiles of Early American Culture, His Excellency: George Washington, American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic, First Family: Abigail and John Adams, Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence, and The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789. He has received the National Book Award in Nonfiction for American Sphinx in 1997 and the Pulitzer Prize for History for Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation in 2001. (Bowker Author Biography) |