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A republic of scoundrels : the schemers, intriguers & adventurers who created a new American nation / edited by David Head & Timothy C. Hemmis.

Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Pegasus Books, 2023Copyright date: ©2023Edition: First Pegasus Books cloth editionDescription: xx, 348 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), map ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781639364077
  • 1639364072
Other title:
  • Schemers, intriguers and adventurers who created a new American nation
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Introduction / Timothy C. Hemmis -- "Your best friends are not your countrymen" : the treason of Benedict Arnold / James Kirby Martin -- Charles Lee : the general as scoundrel? / Mark Edward Lender -- Blount's bunko : private fortune through public service in the Southwest Territory, 1970-1796 / Christopher Magra -- "The spitting Lyon" : Matthew Lyon and the Federalists' fears / Shira Lurie -- The devil from Dedham : Jason Fairbanks and the failure of manly virtue / Craig Bruce Smith -- James Wilkinson : schemer, scoundrel, soldier, spy... success? / Samuel Watson -- "The Mexican traveler" : Philip Nolan and the southwestern horse trade / Jackson Pearson -- American adventurers in the Mississippi borderlands : Thomas Green and Georgia's 1785 Bourdon County scheme in Spanish Natchez / Christian Pinnen -- Troubled trio : the Kemper brothers and the rebellion in west Florida, 1804 / Jane H. Plummer -- William Augustus Bowles, the pretender : a Tory adventurer as Native American leader / David Narrett -- Diego de Gardoqui : from hero of the revolution to scoundrel of the early republic / Tyson Reeder -- An American scoundrel on trial : Aaron Burr and his failed insurrection, 1805-1807 / Timothy C. Hemmis -- Conclusion / David Head.
Summary: This new look at Founding Fathers such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton goes beyond their common depictions as American saints to expose the sometimes selfish motives behind their actions.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction New 973.3092 R426 Available 33111011229883
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Founding Fathers are often revered as American saints; here are the stories of those Founders who were schemers and scoundrels, vying for their own interests ahead of the nation's.

We now have a clear-eyed understanding of Founding Fathers such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton; even so, they are often considered American saints, revered for their wisdom and self-sacrificing service to the nation. However, within the Founding Generation lurked many unscrupulous figures--men who violated the era's expectation of public virtue and advanced their own interests at the expense of others. They were turncoats and traitors, opportunists and con artists, spies, and foreign intriguers. Some of their names are well known: Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr. Others are less notorious now but were no less threatening. There was Charles Lee, the Continental Army general who offered to tell the British how to defeat the Americans, and James Wilkinson, who served fifteen years as a commanding general in the US Army, despite rumors that he spied for Spain and conspired with traitors. The early years of the republic were full of self-interested individuals, sometimes succeeding in their plots, sometimes failing, but always shaping the young nation. A Republic of Scoundrels seeks to re-examine the Founding Generation and replace the hagiography of the Founding Fathers with something more realistic: a picture that embraces the many facets of our nation's origins.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-336) and index.

Introduction / Timothy C. Hemmis -- "Your best friends are not your countrymen" : the treason of Benedict Arnold / James Kirby Martin -- Charles Lee : the general as scoundrel? / Mark Edward Lender -- Blount's bunko : private fortune through public service in the Southwest Territory, 1970-1796 / Christopher Magra -- "The spitting Lyon" : Matthew Lyon and the Federalists' fears / Shira Lurie -- The devil from Dedham : Jason Fairbanks and the failure of manly virtue / Craig Bruce Smith -- James Wilkinson : schemer, scoundrel, soldier, spy... success? / Samuel Watson -- "The Mexican traveler" : Philip Nolan and the southwestern horse trade / Jackson Pearson -- American adventurers in the Mississippi borderlands : Thomas Green and Georgia's 1785 Bourdon County scheme in Spanish Natchez / Christian Pinnen -- Troubled trio : the Kemper brothers and the rebellion in west Florida, 1804 / Jane H. Plummer -- William Augustus Bowles, the pretender : a Tory adventurer as Native American leader / David Narrett -- Diego de Gardoqui : from hero of the revolution to scoundrel of the early republic / Tyson Reeder -- An American scoundrel on trial : Aaron Burr and his failed insurrection, 1805-1807 / Timothy C. Hemmis -- Conclusion / David Head.

This new look at Founding Fathers such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton goes beyond their common depictions as American saints to expose the sometimes selfish motives behind their actions.

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