A Transaction Of Free Men: The Birth And Course Of The Declaration Of Independence

The story of the Declaration of Independence—its genesis, drafting, ratification, and influence—is as complex as any great vision and realization. Did it merely sum up the prevailing thought of its day, or was it an advanced expression of uniquely American ideals? Were its signers aware of the Declaration's full revolutionary significance, or did they see it as the rationale for an economic dispute? Such questions face any historian of the period and require an extraordinary control of mate...