The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by 
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by 
The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Franklin by 
A Companion to Benjamin Franklin by
"This companion provides a comprehensive survey of the life, work and legacy of Benjamin Franklin - the oldest, most distinctive, and multifaceted of the founders... Includes contributions from across a range of academic disciplines. Combines traditional and cutting-edge scholarship, from accomplished and emerging experts in the field. Pays special attention to the American Revolution, the Enlightenment, journalism, colonial American society, and themes of race, class, and gender. Places Franklin in the context of recent work in political theory, American Studies, American literature, material culture studies, popular culture, and international relations"-- Provided by publisher.
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin by
After the signing of the definitive peace treaty on September 3, 1783, Franklins official duties as minister plenipotentiary diminished. Great Britain refused to negotiate a commercial agreement, and Congress failed to act on the draft treaties of commerce with Denmark and Portugal that Franklin had sent them the previous summer. In the six months after the peace was settled, Franklins sole diplomatic achievement was a draft consular convention with France. With his welcome leisure time, however, Franklin eagerly followed scientific developments (witnessing the first balloon ascensions in Paris), advised the French government on schemes for civic improvement, and wrote three of his most remarkable pieces about what it meant to be American.
The Life of Benjamin Franklin by
Edited from his original manuscript by John Bigelow
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin by 
The Age of Reason by
The author of Rights of Man and Common Sense argues for belief in God without religion.My own mind is my own church.In The Age of Reason, political activist and Founding Father Thomas Paine makes a powerful case for a rational approach to theology. In keeping with the intellectual tradition of British Deism, Paine rejects the notion of divine revelation, saying "it is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other." He proceeds with a detailed analysis of the Bible's inconsistencies and historical inaccuracies to conclude that it cannot be a divinely inspired text. Arguing against all forms of organized religion, he declares nature itself to be the only true testament to the existence of a divine creator.Originally published in three parts, in 1794, 1795, and 1807, The Age of Reason was a major influence on the freethinker movement in the United States. In Britain, however, it was declared seditious and led to the arrest of those who dared to print and distribute it.This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
The Field of Imagination by
"The first book-length study of Thomas Paine as a poet, this book also examines his use of poetic epigraphs, his image in eighteenth-century political poetry, and his influence on later American poets"-- Provided by publisher.
Thomas Paine and the Literature of Revolution by
"The American School of Empire considers how an American idea of empire evolved in the 1790s and would shape and be shaped by the literature and art of the early US. Hamilton's introductory essay suggests that empire was as important to the foundation of the US as concepts like democracy, freedom, nation, and republic. This book thus begins from the premise that the history of empire in the United States can be traced back to the inception of the country, if not earlier. It contends that the United States was conceived as an empire, culturally, politically, and legally. Empire, as a broad theory for organizing not only the state but also the understanding of difference and the relationship to space, in other words, was a crucial conceptual frame shaping the culture of the early US"--Provided by publisher.
His Country was the World: A Life of Thomas Paine by Life and Major Writings of Thomas Paine by Thomas Paine, Author of the Declaration of Independence by 
Thomas Paine: Collected Writings by 
George Washington : The Founding Father of the US Constitution by 
How to Analyze the Works of George Washington by George Washington: A Biography in His Own Words by 
The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1790 by
n 1821, at the age of seventy-seven, Thomas Jefferson decided to "state some recollections of dates and facts concerning myself." His ancestors, Jefferson writes, came to America from Wales in the early seventeenth century and settled in the Virginia colony. Jefferson's father, although uneducated, possessed a "strong mind and sound judgement" and raised his family in the far western frontier of the colony, an experience that contributed to his son's eventual staunch defense of individual and state rights.Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary, entered the law, and in 1775 was elected to represent Virginia at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, an event that propelled him to all of his future political fortunes. Jefferson's autobiography continues through the entire Revolutionary War period, and his insights and information about persons, politics, and eventsincluding the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, his service in France with Benjamin Franklin, and his observations on the French Revolutionare of immense value to both scholars and general readers. Jefferson ends this account of his life at the moment he returns to New York to become secretary of state in 1790.Complementing the other major autobiography of the period, Benjamin Franklin's,The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, reintroduced for this edition by historian Michael Zuckerman, gives us a glimpse into the private life and associations of one of America's most influential personalities. Alongside Jefferson's absorbing narrative of how compromises were achieved at the Continental Congress are comments about his own health and day-to-day life that allow the reader to picture him more fully as a human being. Throughout, Jefferson states his opinions and ideas about many issues, including slavery, the death penalty, and taxation. Although Jefferson did not carry this autobiography further into his eventual presidency, the foundations for all of his thoughts are here, and it is in these pages that Jefferson lays out what to him was his most important contribution to his country, the creation of a democratic republic.
The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Jefferson by 
How to Analyze the Works of Thomas Jefferson by 
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, Volume 8 by
Volume Eight of the project documenting Thomas Jefferson's last years presents 591 documents dated from 1 October 1814 to 31 August 1815. Jefferson is overjoyed by American victories late in the War of 1812 and highly interested in the treaty negotiations that ultimately end the conflict. Following Congress's decision to purchase his library, he oversees the counting, packing, and transportation of his books to Washington. Jefferson uses most of the funds from the sale to pay old debts but spends some of the proceeds on new titles. He resigns from the presidency of the American Philosophical Society, revises draft chapters of Louis H. Girardin's history of Virginia, and advises William Wirt on revolutionary-era Stamp Act resolutions. Jefferson criticizes those who discuss politics from the pulpit, and he drafts a bill to transform the Albemarle Academy into Central College. Monticello visitors Francis W. Gilmer, Francis C. Gray, and George Ticknor describe the mountaintop and its inhabitants, and Gray's visit leads to an exchange with Jefferson about how many generations of white interbreeding it takes to clear Negro blood. Finally, although death takes his nephew Peter Carr and brother Randolph Jefferson, the marriage of his grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph is a continuing source of great happiness.
Thomas Jefferson: Thoughts on War and Revolution by The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams by The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson by 
Thomas Jefferson: Draftsman of a Nation by 
Letters from an American Farmer by
"This Dover edition, first published in 2005, is a newly reset, unabridged republication of Letters of an American farmer, with an introduction and notes by Warren Barton Blake, as originally published by E.P. Dutton & Co., New York in 1912"
Posthumous America: LIterary Reinventions of America at the End of the Eighteenth Century by
"An English translation of Benjamin Hoffmann's French monograph L'Amérique posthume. Examines the literary idealization of a lost American past in eighteenth-century French literature"--Provided by publisher.
Letters from an American Farmer and Other Essays by 
New Essays on Phillis Wheatley by
The first African American to publish a book on any subject, poet Phillis Wheatley (1753?–1784) has long been denigrated by literary critics who refused to believe that a black woman could produce such dense, intellectual work, let alone influence Romantic-period giants like Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson once declared that “the compositions published under her name are below dignity of criticism.” In recent decades, however, Wheatley's work has come under new scrutiny as the literature of the eighteenth century and the impact of African American literature have been reconceived. In these never-before-published essays, fourteen prominent Wheatley scholars consider her work from a variety of angles, affirming her rise into the first rank of American writers.
Phillis Wheatley by
With Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), Phillis Wheatley (1753?–1784) became the first English-speaking person of African descent to publish a book and only the second woman—of any race or background— to do so in America. Written in Boston while she was just a teenager, and when she was still a slave, Wheatley's work was an international sensation. In Phillis Wheatley, Vincent Carretta offers the first full-length biography of a figure whose origins and later life have remained shadowy despite her iconic status.A scholar with extensive knowledge of transatlantic literature and history, Carretta uncovers new details about Wheatley's origins, her upbringing, and how she gained freedom. Carretta solves the mystery of John Peters, correcting the record of when he and Wheatley married and revealing what became of him after her death. Assessing Wheatley's entire body of work, Carretta discusses the likely role she played in the production, marketing, and distribution of her writing. Wheatley developed a remarkable transatlantic network that transcended racial, class, political, religious, and geographical boundaries. Carretta reconstructs that network and sheds new light on her religious and political identities. In the course of his research he discovered the earliest poem attributable to Wheatley and has included it and other unpublished poems in the biography.Carretta relocates Wheatley from the margins to the center of her eighteenth-century transatlantic world, revealing the fascinating life of a woman who rose from the indignity of enslavement to earn wide recognition, only to die in obscurity a few years later.
Phillis Wheatley and the Romantics by
This book very conclusively debunks the over two-hundred-year-old conventional wisdom that Wheatley owes her poetic sensibilities to Alexander Pope.... It will help rejuvenate the study of Wheatley and will be an exciting contribution to scholarly discourse on Wheatley's poetry.” —Cedrick May, author of Evangelism and Resistance in the Black Atlantic
The Trials of Phillis Wheatley by
In 1773, the slave Phillis Wheatley literally wrote her way to freedom. The first person of African descent to publish a book of poems in English, she was emancipated by her owners in recognition of her literary achievement. For a time, Wheatley was the most famous black woman in the West. But Thomas Jefferson, unlike his contemporaries Ben Franklin and George Washington, refused to acknowledge her gifts as a writer—a repudiation that eventually inspired generations of black writers to build an extraordinary body of literature in their efforts to prove him wrong.In The Trials of Phillis Wheatley, Henry Louis Gates Jr. explores the pivotal roles that Wheatley and Jefferson played in shaping the black literary tradition. Writing with all the lyricism and critical skill that place him at the forefront of American letters, Gates brings to life the characters, debates, and controversy that surrounded Wheatley in her day and ours.
Heav'nly Tidings from the Afric Muse by
"Biography of African-American poet Phillis Wheatley examines her historical, literary, and social influence in colonial America. Features and analyzes her poetry, expands on works from previous biographers, and introduces continuing historical research. Foreword by Nikki Giovanni"-- Provided by publisher.
Phillis Wheatley Chooses Freedom by
This is the story of Phillis Wheatley, a free, black poet who resisted the pressures of arranged marriage, truly embodying the ideals of the American Revolution.
