Consisting of over 100 easy to access capsule portraits of America's Founding Fathers; "Our Lives; Our Fortunes; Our Sacred Honor" tells the stories of the mighty figures of an age gone by. Now students and interested readers can have a handy reference guide to key figures covering the lowliest private in the Continental Army to the most important leaders in Congress. Here they all are: the generals; the soldiers; the frontiersmen; the politicians; the spies; and the rabble rousers! "Our Lives; Our Fortunes; Our Sacred Honor" will take readers into the halls of Congress to see how independence was declared and the Constitution crafted; into the counsels of the army where strategy was planned; on the high seas where great vessels exchanged fire; on the frontier where mercy was neither asked nor given; in the palaces of Europe with their intrigue and secret negotiations; and on the battlefield where the fate of nations and the world was decided in hundreds of actions both small and large! So if you are a reader well versed in the Revolutionary era or a newcomer to the most important historical event of modern times; you cannot afford to ignore this single volume new collection.
#834137 in Books The Library of America 2012-11-08 2012-11-08Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.15 x 1.32 x 5.10l; 1.45 #File Name: 1598531964848 pages
Review
6 of 10 people found the following review helpful. the importance of learningBy anna koosThe importance of learning starts with the study of those who came before us. Their experience helps us see human dignity in circumstances that may deny it. This significant collection shows such recognition coming from a variety of sources in otherwise blind times.0 of 3 people found the following review helpful. ImportantBy Joseph D. AndersVery important stuff. Compelling firsthand accounts of life in slavery. Many of these people accomplished great things once they were free0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Compelling historyBy Robert C RossNew York Society Library Book.This splendid collection of writings about slavery and its effects on so many different people moved me deeply. One of the most compelling is this fictional account based on actual events of a slave who chose to remain with her owner in slavery.The extract and the description come from the splendid weekly email sent out by the publisher; available on request for free."In this fictionalized account based on a series of true events; the young slave Pinda is offered the opportunity to become a free woman.. . . Slaveholders are accustomed to say that their victims cannot be persuaded to take their freedom; and to bring their own assertion as a proof of the merits of slavery. It was; therefore; an anxious moment for the friends of freedom on shore; while they waited to learn the result of the legal process by which they offered to the poor slave-woman the freedom secured by the laws of Massachusetts to all slaves brought under its jurisdiction by their masters. Their anxiety was not without cause. Notwithstanding the statement of the officer that she was free; notwithstanding the assurances of her master that she might do as she pleased; she refused to leave the ship. She was evidently both confused and alarmed; as well as undecided; for a few moments; but she finally persisted in remaining with her master; and; to the great pain of all the friends of freedom who were aware of the circumstance; she was carried away into slavery. . . ."Introduction from the email: In 1836 Mary Slater of New Orleans visited her father Thomas Aves in Boston and brought along Med; a six-year-old slave girl. Slater’s stay in Boston was extended when she fell ill; and Med was housed by Aves during her mistress’s lengthy recuperation. Several local abolitionists and lawyers; on behalf of both the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and the young girl; petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus against Aves; arguing that because Med was “free by the law of Massachusetts†the state court must intervene on her behalf to prevent her from being forced to return to New Orleans.The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; led by its chief justice Lemuel Shaw (Herman Melville’s future father-in-law) ruled unanimously in Commonwealth v. Aves for the petitioners; in favor of Med’s freedom. In his decision Shaw distinguished the case at hand from situations involving runaway slaves (which were covered by federal law) and determined that “if a slave is brought voluntarily and unnecessarily within the limits of this State; he becomes free; if he chooses to avail himself of the provisions of our laws.†The court placed Med in the care of a guardian; and she was eventually adopted by Isaac Knapp; the famous copublisher of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. The ruling was almost immediately used by activists to free slaves voluntarily brought by their masters into Northern states.Four years after this landmark court case Maria Weston Chapman of Boston received a message from her sister in New Bedford; about a fugitive slave newly arrived from Georgia. He hoped to be reunited with his wife; who had recently been freed by abolitionists using the precedent set by the Aves decision:Today at noon Abraham came with your letter. . . . He kept talking about his family; removing his family. Pinda I suppose he meant. . . . He wants you to tell Pinda that at the place where he is staying are two old acquaintances of his; who came from the very place he did; Savannah I suppose that he has not the least trouble in getting along. . . . There is great feeling for runaway slaves here [and] I dont doubt he will prosper. I should not think it at all safe though to publish his story; which is a great pity; for there never was a prettier one.*At the time of her husband’s arrival; Pinda was living in Boston; either with Chapman or with a neighboring family. Ever watchful for Pinda’s welfare; Chapman warned a friend in New Bedford six months later that “the amiable Mr. Hogan;†Pinda’s former “christian slave-holder;†had arrived in town. Chapman received a reply indicating that Abraham; who had a job in New Bedford; had canceled his impending visit to Boston to see his wife and thought “it would be better for Pendas [sic] to remain where she is for the present as Hogan might discover his whereabouts if she should attempt to come to him.â€Chapman chose to disregard her sister’s advice to not publish the couple’s story; and “Pinda:—A True Tale†appeared weeks later. The names Pinda and Abraham are retained in the tale—although; even in the correspondence quoted above; these are almost certainly pseudonyms—and Hogan becomes Logan. Although the real identities of Pinda; her husband; and their former owners have never been determined—and it’s not known what became of them—surviving documentation otherwise confirms the seemingly melodramatic essentials of Chapman’s fictional version. The story was published in late October 1840 in an early issue of the National Anti-Slavery Standard; founded that year by the Lydia Maria Child (best known today as the author of the poem that begins “Over the river and through the woodsâ€); and it was widely distributed as a small book by the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York.This week’s selection is preceded by a headnote on Maria Chapman written by James G. Basker when “Pinda†was included in the Library of America anthology American Antislavery Writings.Notes: The opening of the story takes place on the Eli Whitney; an actual ship; named for the inventor of the cotton gin. On page 389 is a reference to Paul’s Epistle to Philemon in the New Testament. Philemon; a wealthy Christian in Colossae; owned a slave named Onesimus. Shortly after Paul had left Colossae; Onesimus ran away to Rome; where he met Paul and converted to Christianity. Eventually; Paul sent him back to his master; urging Philemon to treat him as a brother. Garrison; first mentioned on page 395; refers to abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.* The background for this case is excerpted more extensively in Kathryn Grover’s Fugitive's Gibraltar: Escaping Slaves and Abolitionism in New Bedford; Massachusetts (2001).Robert C. RossSeptember 2015
