1997, ISBN: 9780679454922

[SC: 41.68], [PU: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997], Jacket, Maier, Pauline, 1938-2013. American scripture: making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997, 5th pri… Mehr…

[SC: 41.68], [PU: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997], Jacket, Maier, Pauline, 1938-2013. American scripture: making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997, 5th printing September 1997, xxi, 304pp., very good price-clipped dust-jacket, very good blue and white hardcover. Dust-jacket design by Chip Kidd. Historian Maier shows us the Declaration as both the defining statement of our national identity and the moral standard by which we live as a nation. It is truly "American Scripture," and Maier tells us how it came to be. She describes the transformation of the Second Continental Congress into a national government, unlike anything that preceded or followed it. She lets us hear the voice of the people as revealed in other "declarations" of 1776. Detective-like, she discloses the origins of key ideas and phrases in the Declaration and unravels the complex story of its drafting and of the group-editing job which angered Thomas Jefferson. She also reveals what happened after the signing and celebration: how it was largely forgotten and then revived to buttress political arguments of the nineteenth century; and how Abraham Lincoln ensured its persistence as a living force in American society. - CONTENTS: Introduction: Gathering at the Shrine -- Ch. I. Independence. 1. Congress. 2. Independence? 3. Common Sense. 4. A Republic? 5. Decision -- Ch. II. The "Other" Declarations of Independence. 1. In English Ways. 2. Mobilizing the People. 3. Declaring Independence. 4. Founding a Republic -- Ch. III. Mr. Jefferson and His Editors. 1. The Drafting Committee. 2. Jefferson's Draft: The Charges Against the King. 3. Jefferson's Draft: A Revolutionary Manifesto. 4. Congress's Declaration -- Ch. IV. American Scripture. 1. Spreading the News. 2. An All-But-Forgotten Testament. 3. A Partisan Document. 4. Sacred Text. 5. Equality and Rights -- Epilogue: Reflecting at the Memorials -- App. A. State and Local Declarations of Independence, A Log: April-July 1776 -- App. B. Local Resolutions on Independence: Some Examples -- App. C. The Declaration of Independence: The Jefferson Draft with Congress's Editorial Changes. ISBN 9780679454922<

1997, ISBN: 9780679454922

[SC: 40.85], [PU: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997], Jacket, Maier, Pauline, 1938-2013. American scripture: making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997, 5th pri… Mehr…

[SC: 40.85], [PU: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997], Jacket, Maier, Pauline, 1938-2013. American scripture: making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997, 5th printing September 1997, xxi, 304pp., very good price-clipped dust-jacket, very good blue and white hardcover. Dust-jacket design by Chip Kidd. Historian Maier shows us the Declaration as both the defining statement of our national identity and the moral standard by which we live as a nation. It is truly "American Scripture," and Maier tells us how it came to be. She describes the transformation of the Second Continental Congress into a national government, unlike anything that preceded or followed it. She lets us hear the voice of the people as revealed in other "declarations" of 1776. Detective-like, she discloses the origins of key ideas and phrases in the Declaration and unravels the complex story of its drafting and of the group-editing job which angered Thomas Jefferson. She also reveals what happened after the signing and celebration: how it was largely forgotten and then revived to buttress political arguments of the nineteenth century; and how Abraham Lincoln ensured its persistence as a living force in American society. - CONTENTS: Introduction: Gathering at the Shrine -- Ch. I. Independence. 1. Congress. 2. Independence? 3. Common Sense. 4. A Republic? 5. Decision -- Ch. II. The "Other" Declarations of Independence. 1. In English Ways. 2. Mobilizing the People. 3. Declaring Independence. 4. Founding a Republic -- Ch. III. Mr. Jefferson and His Editors. 1. The Drafting Committee. 2. Jefferson's Draft: The Charges Against the King. 3. Jefferson's Draft: A Revolutionary Manifesto. 4. Congress's Declaration -- Ch. IV. American Scripture. 1. Spreading the News. 2. An All-But-Forgotten Testament. 3. A Partisan Document. 4. Sacred Text. 5. Equality and Rights -- Epilogue: Reflecting at the Memorials -- App. A. State and Local Declarations of Independence, A Log: April-July 1776 -- App. B. Local Resolutions on Independence: Some Examples -- App. C. The Declaration of Independence: The Jefferson Draft with Congress's Editorial Changes. ISBN 9780679454922<

ISBN: 9780679454922

Pauline Maier shows us the Declaration as both the defining statement of our national identity and the moral standard by which we live as a nation. It is truly "American Scripture," and M… Mehr…

Pauline Maier shows us the Declaration as both the defining statement of our national identity and the moral standard by which we live as a nation. It is truly "American Scripture," and Maier tells us how it came to be -- from the Declaration's birth in the hard and tortuous struggle by which Americans arrived at Independence to the ways in which, in the nineteenth century, the document itself became sanctified. Maier describes the transformation of the Second Continental Congress into a national government, unlike anything that preceded or followed it, and with more authority than the colonists would ever have conceded to the British Parliament; the great difficulty in making the decision for Independence; the influence of Paine's []Common Sense[], which shifted the terms of debate; and the political maneuvers that allowed Congress to make the momentous decision. In Maier's hands, the Declaration of Independence is brought close to us. She lets us hear the voice of the people as revealed in the other "declarations" of 1776: the local resolutions -- most of which have gone unnoticed over the past two centuries -- that explained, advocated, and justified Independence and undergirded Congress's work. Detective-like, she discloses the origins of key ideas and phrases in the Declaration and unravels the complex story of its drafting and of the group-editing job which angered Thomas Jefferson. Maier also reveals what happened to the Declaration after the signing and celebration: how it was largely forgotten and then revived to buttress political arguments of the nineteenth century; and, most important, how Abraham Lincoln ensured its persistence as a living force in American society. Finally, she shows how by the very act of venerating the Declaration as we do -- by holding it as sacrosanct, akin to holy writ -- we may actually be betraying its purpose and its power. Media > Book, [PU: Random House; Alfred A. Knopf]<