Showing titles in Colonial Period

Designed to be compatible with virtually every standard textbook in their subject field, Barron’s EZ-101 Study Keys give you a valuable overview of your college-level course. In American History to 1877, all key topics are covered, from the first Americans through the post–Civil War Reconstruction era. Also covered are brief key quotations and notes on major figures such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, John Marshall, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and many more.

One of the most infamous American freethinkers in his day, Elihu Palmer has been largely forgotten. No cache of his personal papers exists, and his book has been long out of print. Yet his story merits telling, Kirsten Fischer argues, and not only for the dramatic account of a man who lost his eyesight before the age of 30 and still became a book author, newspaper editor, and itinerant public speaker.

On Thursday, December 16, 1773, an estimated seven dozen men, many amateurishly disguised as Indians—then a symbol of freedom—dumped about £10,000 worth of tea in the harbor. Whatever their motives at the time, they unleashed a social, political, and economic firestorm that would culminate in the Declaration of Independence two and a half years later.

The most important reformer and innovator in American religious history, Joseph Smith has remained a fascinating enigma to many, both inside and outside the Mormon Church he founded. Born in 1805, Smith grew up during the "Second Great Awakening," when secular tumult had spawned radical...

In 1587, one hundred and seventeen English men, women, and children established a settlement on Roanoke Island, among them the first English child born in the Americas, Virginia Dare. Three years later they were gone, having vanished from their small village, leaving behind no sign of a struggle. The only clue to their fate was a single, cryptic word carved into a wooden post: CROATOAN. This work provides a complete and unflinching history of England's first attempts to forge an empire in the New World, set against the backdrop of the nation's epic rivalry with Spain. It meticulously ...

When it comes to the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton are generally considered the great minds of early America. George Washington, instead, is toasted with accolades regarding his solid common sense and strength in battle. Indeed, John Adams once snobbishly dismissed him as "too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station and reputation." Yet Adams, as well as the majority of the men who knew Washington in his life, were unaware of his singular devotion to self-improvement.

The conflict that historians have called King Philip’s War still ranks as one of the bloodiest per capita in American history. An Indian coalition ravaged much of New England, killing 600 colonial fighting men (not including their Indian allies), obliterating 17 white towns, and damaging more than 50 settlements. The version of these events that has come down to us focuses on Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay - the colonies whose commentators dominated the storytelling. But because Connecticut lacked a chronicler, its experience has gone largely untold.

Nearly 20 years before Jamestown was settled, the English established one of the earliest colonies in North America around the Chesapeake Bay region, until the colony had over 100 inhabitants. Like other early settlements, Roanoke struggled to survive in its infancy, to the extent that the colony's leader, John White, sailed back to England in 1587 in an effort to bring more supplies and help. However, the attempts to bring back supplies were thwarted by the Spanish in the midst of the Anglo-Spanish War going on at the time.

The short war between a confederation of Native American tribes under Little Turtle’s leadership has been referred to by many names, including the Northwest Indian War, the Ohio War, and the Miami War, but it is probably best known as Little Turtle’s War. Before Little Turtle’s War, it was believed that the U.S. did not need a professional army, that ordinary citizens would take up arms in times of threat and serve in militias as they had done in the fight against the British.

For more than three centuries, spanning generations and captivating countless imaginations, the unsettling echoes of Salem's unexplained mysteries continue to enthrall, perplex, and occasionally haunt millions of inquiring minds—from scholars and casual tourists to paranormal enthusiasts alike. There is an undeniable, almost magnetic pull towards the enigmatic aura of this prominent New England city, a place where the rigid piety of Puritanical belief systems clashed violently with deeply rooted superstitions regarding the occult, and which continues to be subjected to intense historical ...

This book explores the plan of union Alexander Hamilton presented to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Hamilton's plan reveals much about this brilliant and complex man. The book also delves into Hamilton's unsavory beginnings and follows his career until his death at the hands of Aaron Burr.

Four hunded years ago a small band of Christian reformers came to America in search of indiviudal and religious liberty. Their willingness to risk it all in their quest for freedom helped give birth to the United States of America. Based primarily on their own writings, Dr. Eddie Hyatt gives an overview of their faith and vision, their trials and triumphs, and their profound impact on American life and culture. On this 400-year anniversary of their arrival in the New World, this book will help us remember them as they really were.

This book surveys the colonial and revolutionary history of the Pennsylvania colony from the day William Penn founded the colony, through decades of political disagreement among members of the Penn family, and between the Pennsylvania government and its citizens. Those disputes resulted in groundbreaking political principles, many of which became the foundation of the new federal government when the US became independent.

From 1754 to 1755, the slave ship Hare completed a journey from Newport, Rhode Island, to Sierra Leone and back to the United States - a journey that transformed more than 70 Africans into commodities, condemning some to death and the rest to a life of bondage in North America. In this engaging narrative, Sean Kelley painstakingly reconstructs this tumultuous voyage, detailing everything from the identities of the captain and crew to their wild encounters with inclement weather, slave traders, and near-mutiny.

The familiar shape of the United States, stretching from ocean to ocean, feels as solid and permanent as the continent itself. But that iconic silhouette was never inevitable; it is merely the current frame in a long and turbulent film of national evolution. This book tells the story of the American map, revealing how a fragile alliance of thirteen coastal colonies grew into a global power by acquiring, conquering, and negotiating for every square mile of its domain. The journey begins with the chaotic, overlapping charters of the colonial era and the first great challenge of the new ...

In The Varieties of Political Experience in Eighteenth-Century America, Richard R. Beeman offers an ambitious overview of political life in pre-Revolutionary America. Beeman uncovers an extraordinary diversity of political belief and practice. In so doing, he closes the gap between eighteenth-century political rhetoric and reality. Although the majority of people living in America before the Revolution would not have used the term "democracy," important changes were underway that made it increasingly difficult for political leaders to ignore "popular pressures".

The political and military nature of the Revolutionary War was just as full of intrigue. While disorganized militias fought the Battles of Lexington & Concord, George Washington would lead the Continental Army in the field while men like Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia and Benjamin Franklin negotiated overseas in France.

Splendiferous Speech explores the main sources of the American vernacular - the expanding western frontier, the bumptious world of politics, and the sensation-filled pages of popular 19th-century newspapers. It's a process that started with the earliest English colonists (first word adoption - the Algonquian raccoon) and is still going strong today. Author Rosemarie Ostler takes listeners along on the journey as Americans learn to declare linguistic independence and embrace their own brand of speech.

Among the pressing concerns of Americans in the first century of nationhood were day-to-day survival, political harmony, exploration of the continent, foreign policy, and - fixed deeply in the collective consciousness - hell and eternal damnation. The fear of fire and brimstone and the worm that never dies exerted a profound and lasting influence on Americans' ideas about themselves, their neighbors, and the rest of the world.

In February of 1675 Narragansett Indians lay siege to Mary Rowlandson's village. Most were killed. "The bullets flying thick, one went through my side, and the same through the bowels of my dear child in my arms." This marvelous reading of her account, descriptive and mindful of the will of God, is a very powerful audiobook. Mary White was born in about 1637 in England. She married Joseph Rowlandson, the pastor of Lancaster, in the 1650s.