Beyond the Founders: New Approaches to the Political History of the Early American Republic - Tapa dura

"This collection of invaluable essays comes as a welcome relief from the current cult of celebrity. [It] penetrates beyond the plethora of biographies of the Founding Fathers to demonstrate how the 'newest political history' broadens our understanding of the political character of the early republic." -- "Journal of Southern History" "Further evidence that imaginative and relevant scholarship is giving political history a buzz. . . . An outstanding collection of lively, enlightening, and provocative essays." -- "American Historical Review" "A valuable collection of essays that introduces a new way of looking at the political history of the early republic." -- "The Pennsylvania Magazine of History & Biography"

In pursuit of a more sophisticated and inclusive American history, the contributors to Beyond the Founders propose new directions for the study of the political history of the republic before 1830. In ways formal and informal, symbolic and tactile, this political world encompassed blacks, women, entrepreneurs, and Native Americans, as well as the Adamses, Jeffersons, and Jacksons, all struggling in their own ways to shape the new nation and express their ideas of American democracy. Taking inspiration from the new cultural and social histories, these political historians show that the early history of the United States was not just the product of a few ""founding fathers,"" but was also marked by widespread and passionate popular involvement; print media more politically potent than that of later eras; and political conflicts and influences that crossed lines of race, gender, and class.