America's Beginnings: The Dramatic Events that Shaped a Nation's Character

by Tony J. Williams

Overview

At a time when surveys reveal that Americans know less and less about our past, Tony Williams provides entertaining and informative descriptions of 50 of the most important and dramatic events from the colonial and Revolutionary period-some known and some forgotten-from the Mayflower Compact to the Annapolis Convention. Published in association with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, America's Beginnings takes the reader throughout the American colonies and introduces many leading figures, from John Smith and John Winthrop to the Founding Fathers. Along the way, Williams examines the principles that led colonists to come to America and succeeding generations to become a free and independent nation. Read individually or from cover to cover, these stories illuminate the founding principles and heroic struggles that established the country and shaped the American character.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442204898
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	12/16/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	564 KB

About the Author

Tony Williams is the author of Hurricanes of Independence: The Untold Story of the Deadly Storm at the Deciding Moment of the American Revolution and The Pox and the Covenant: Franklin, Mather, and the Epidemic that Changed America's Destiny. He resides in Williamsburg. Virginia.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1: Lost Colony
Chapter 2: Jamestown
Chapter 3: Starving Time
Chapter 4:First Representative Legislature in Britain's New World
Chapter 5: First Africans
Chapter 6:Mayflower Compact
Chapter 7:City Upon a Hill
Chapter 8:Indian Uprising of 1622
Chapter 9: Dissents of Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams
Chapter 10: Pequot War
Chapter 11: King Philip's War
Chapter 12: Bacon's Rebellion
Chapter 13:Glorious Revolution in America
Chapter 14:Salem Witch Trials
Chapter 15: Boston Smallpox Epidemic of 1721
Chapter 16: Great Awakening
Chapter 17: Benjamin Franklin and the Lightning Rod
Chapter 18: Albany Plan of Union
Chapter 19: Great Meadows
Chapter 20: Braddock's March
Chapter 21: Royal Proclamation of 1763
Chapter 22: Stamp Act
Chapter 23: Townshend Acts
Chapter 24: Boston Massacre
Chapter 25: Boston Tea Party
Chapter 26: Continental Congress
Chapter 27: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
Chapter 28: Lexington and Concord
Chapter 29: Bunker Hill
Chapter 30: Fort Ticonderoga
Chapter 31: Common Sense
Chapter 32: Declaration of Rights
Chapter 33: Declaration of Independence
Chapter 34: Crossing the Delaware
Chapter 35: Saratoga
Chapter 36: French Alliance
Chapter 37: Valley Forge
Chapter 38: Guilford Courthouse
Chapter 39: Yorktown
Chapter 40: Newburgh Conspiracy
Chapter 41: Peace Treaty of 1783
Chapter 42: Washington Surrenders His Commission
Chapter 43: Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
Chapter 44: Annapolis Convention
Chapter 45: Shays' Rebellion
Chapter 46: Constitutional Convention
Chapter 47: Ratifying Conventions
Chapter 48: The Federalist
Chapter 49: Inauguration of George Washington
Chapter 50: Bill of Rights
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Teachers of beginning courses in U.S. history and their students might find encouragement for their work.

Teaching History: A Journal of Methods

America’s Beginnings tells the story of what Declaration of Independence signer Richard Henry Lee called “the vineyard of liberty.” Like the making of a fine wine, the success of the early American republic was far from inevitable. Tony Williams compellingly captures the difficulties and triumphs of early Americans. He tells of our beginnings with appreciation for the extraordinary accomplishments of the American Founders. This is civic-minded history at its best, and offers rich reading for citizens young and old alike.

David J. Bobb

What were the 50 most important events of the colonial and revolutionary era? A new book published by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Rowman & Littlefield Publishers surveys the top 50, from the Lost Colony of Roanoke to the passage of the Bill of Rights. Written by historian Tony Williams, America’s Beginnings, the Dramatic Events that Shaped a Nation’s Character” guides readers throughout the colonies, introducing figures such as John Smith, John Winthrop and the Founding Fathers while also examining the principles that turned subjects of a king into citizens of a free and independent nation.

The Virginia Gazette

Tony Williams' America's Beginnings: The Dramatic Events that Shaped a Nation's Character, is a well written and highly readable collection of vignettes that will whet the appetite of budding historians.

Alf J. Mapp Jr.

America's Beginnings breathes new life into many of the people responsible for creating and implementing the fundamental principles and virtues of our republic. Tony Williams transports the reader back through a beautiful and rugged landscape and fills it with stories of the 17th and 18th century Americans whose lives gave structure, direction, and meaning to our shared national narrative. Williams' stories provide a primer on courage, perseverance, and optimism that will serve today's citizens well.

Michael Hartoonian

Tony Williams has produced a succinct, entertaining, and informative book on 50 of the key events in early America. Easily accessible to young readers as well as experts, Williams bolsters his narrative with spicy quotations and important facts, never losing the big picture that America was. .. and is. .. exceptional.

Larry Schweikart

Teachers of beginning courses in U.S. history and their students might find encouragement for their work.

Teaching History