Political Founding

Bitter fighting over deficits, taxes, and spending bedevils Washington, D.C., even as partisan gridlock has brought the government to the brink of default. Yet the more politicians on both sides of the aisle rant and the citizenry fumes, the more things seem to remain the same. White House Burning looks squarely at the burgeoning national debt and proposes to defuse its threat to our well-being without forcing struggling middle-class families and the elderly into poverty.

The American Revolution is replete with seminal moments that every American learns in school, from the "shot heard 'round the world" to the Declaration of Independence, but the events that led up to the fighting at Lexington and Concord were borne out of 10 years of division between the British and their American colonies over everything from colonial representation in governments to taxation, the nature of searches, and the quartering of British regulars in private houses.

Washington's Farewell Address Made Easier is a quick and delightful visit into the heart, mind, and soul of George Washington. He gives a brief glimpse into the challenges and workings of self-government and America's amazing formula of success, for which he has been aptly named The Father of Our Country.

Harriet Tubman (March 10, 1822—March 10, 1913) was an abolitionist and political activist in the United States. Tubman, who was born into slavery, got away and went on to free around 70 enslaved people, which includes family members and good friends, through the Underground Rail Road, a network of antislavery activists and safe houses. She worked for the Union Army as an armed scout and spy throughout the American Civil War. Tubman was an activist in the women's suffrage movement in her last years.

The Federalist Papers is a series of 85 articles arguing in favor of ratification of the United States Constitution by the 13 original colonies. Federalist No. 74 discusses the powers of the president as commander-in-chief and to grant pardons and reprieves. Hamilton asserts that the role of commander-in-chief is inherent in the office itself and requires the speed and resolve of a single decision-maker.

In the early 19th century, the United States turned its idealistic gaze southward, imagining a legacy of revolution and republicanism it hoped would dominate the American hemisphere. From pulsing port cities to Midwestern farms and Southern plantations, an adolescent nation hailed Latin America's independence movements as glorious tropical reprises of 1776.

How did people in our country, North and South, East and West, come to share a remarkably durable and consistent common vision of what it meant to be an American in the first 50 years after the Revolution? How did the nation respond to the problem of slavery in a republic?

"Common Sense" is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Written in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshalled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution, and became an immediate sensation. It was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places.

Prepare to conquer the CLEP History of the United States I: Early Colonization to 1877 Exam with this comprehensive study guide. Delve into essential topics such as political institutions, political developments, and public policy, gaining insights into the shaping of America's governance. Explore social developments that have influenced the nation's identity and fabric. Unravel the intricacies of economic developments, from early colonial trade to industrialization. Dive into cultural and intellectual developments that have defined American society. Additionally, examine the nation's ...

The Education of John Adams is the first biography of John Adams by a biographer with legal training. It examines his origins in colonial Massachusetts, his education, and his struggle to choose a career and define a place for himself in colonial society.

Historian Jay Sexton contends that our national narrative is not one of halting yet inevitable progress, but of repeated disruptions brought about by shifts in the international system. Sexton shows that the American Revolution was a consequence of the increasing integration of the British and American economies; that a necessary precondition for the Civil War was the absence, for the first time in decades, of foreign threats; and that we cannot understand the New Deal without examining the role of European immigrants and their offspring in transforming the Democratic Party.

Experience one of the most influential political works in American history, Common Sense by Thomas Paine, now narrated by Gary Middleton. First published in 1776, this revolutionary pamphlet boldly called for American independence from British rule, igniting the flames of rebellion and inspiring a new nation to rise.

Most Americans know Andrew Jackson as a frontier rebel against political and diplomatic norms, a "populist" champion of ordinary people against the elitist legacy of the Founding Fathers. Many date the onset of American democracy to his 1829 inauguration. Despite his reverence for the "sovereign people", however, Jackson spent much of his career limiting that sovereignty, imposing new and often unpopular legal regimes over American lands and markets.

James Madison and the Virginia Resolution considers Madison's response to a governmental endeavor to expand its scope and authority through the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts. The acts attempted to limit the public's ability to scrutinize the federal government, and they further unbalanced efforts to find an equilibrium of power in the new republic. In this essay, Madison's Virginia Resolution is examined and analyzed in the context of early American politics. It shows that Madison's position was not a greater threat to the nation's stability than the legislation he was fighting.

Two Revolutions and the Constitution describes how the American Constitution secured the gains of the American Revolution. It tells the story of how the American constitutional system drew on both Americans' experience of partial self-government in colonial America and their understanding of the British constitution. It also tells how, when they were drafting the Constitution, the Framers used what they had learned about effective constitutions since independence. This audiobook describes how the English started that struggle, and the American Constitution completed it.

In the spring of 1778, General George Washington wrote to his friend Landon Carter about a rumored “disposition in the Northern officers to see me superseded in my command”. This was as candid a statement as the general ever made about the so-called “Conway Cabal” of patriot officers and politicians critical of his leadership.

Unleash Your Inner Innovator: Learn from Benjamin Franklin, A Man of Many Talents Explore the extraordinary life of Benjamin Franklin, whose innovations and institutions have profoundly shaped American culture and practical life. Did you know that Franklin behind several innovations that we now take for granted. These include: Bifocals - Combining lenses for near and far vision Lightning rod - Safeguarding buildings from storms Franklin stove - More efficient home heating Flexible urinary catheter - Early medical device innovation Public libraries - Expanding access to knowledge Public ...

How does the First Amendment really work? Is it a principle or a value? What is hate speech and should it always be banned? Are we free to declare our religious beliefs in the public square? What role, if any, should companies like Facebook play in policing the exchange of thoughts, ideas, and opinions? With clarity and power, Stanley Fish explores these complex questions in The First.

Common Sense, a pamphlet by Thomas Paine, was published anonymously in 1776, six months before the Declaration of Independence. It is an impassioned call for America to free itself from British rule and set up an independent republican government. Paine criticized hereditary kingship and urged his adopted country to embrace personal freedom and social equality.

A small group of men and women, fed up with the oppression that grips this once great country, is determined to set the nation back on course. They are patriots with a mission to create fairness, truth and hope by reestablishing the economic opportunities that our society once enjoyed. To achieve this, these loyal Americans must fight a heart-pounding modern day war.