Profiles in American History

Alexander Hamilton is one of the most important of America s Founding Fathers, yet he and his contributions are often overlooked. Hard-driving, cocky, and irritating at times, he was also brilliant, prophetic, and generous. He lived a remarkable life, from his stint as George Washington s key aide during the American Revolution to his role as the first Treasury Secretary of the United States. It was also a life cut tragically short in a duel with Aaron Burr that has created more questions than answers. Amazing, frustrating, fascinating, and controversial, all at the same time; that was Alexander Hamilton.

Three years after the Pilgrims founded the Massachusetts Colony in 1620, the Dutch founded their own North American colony on the island that would eventually become New York City. When leading members of the Dutch colony, called New Amsterdam, needed a new governor, the company began looking for a replacement. They wanted someone who was honest, brave, loyal to the company, and experienced in colonial affairs. Peter Stuyvesant had all these qualities and more Stuyvesant remained New Amsterdam's governor from 1647 until 1664, when the city was captured by an English army under the command of the Duke of York. Along the way, Stuyvesant's often narrow-minded beliefs made him a few enemies.

Few people have accomplished as much in as many different areas as Benjamin Franklin. He became the first internationally famous American scientist. In 1752, he proved that lightning is electricity. His dozens of inventions ranged from swim fins to bifocals. He proposed daylight savings time. In the colonies, he set up police and fire departments, public libraries, and post offices. As a famous printer, he was also one of the country s most popular writers. Franklin also excelled in politics. He helped establish the United States of America: He was on the committee that drew up the Declaration of Independence, he convinced France to provide crucial assistance to the colonial army, he signed the Treaty of Paris, and he contributed ideas for the U.S. Constitution. In this book for young readers, author Jim Whiting overviews the life of one of the most famous Americans, Benjamin Franklin.

A short biography of the French missionary who explored the northern extreme of the Mississippi River to see if it was the Northwest Passage

When it came time to question whether America should be independent from Great Britain, many were quiet. Fearful of committing treason against the King of England, many American colonists were afraid to speak their minds. Patrick Henry spoke when others wouldn’t. When the British taxes and rules became more than the colonists could bear, Henry unleashed his contempt for the British monarchy. He even went so far as to warn that tyrants often meet with a violent end. He said what many Americans felt but were too afraid to say. Some believed he spoke treason and his words could have led him to the gallows. Instead, his words led Americans to war, and to independence from the tyrannical King George III.

When we think of bravery at sea, we can't help thinking of John Paul Jones. Numerous times, the enemy outgunned him, but he outthought them and outmaneuvered them. Born in Scotland to servants, going to sea as a young boy was an opportunity to change his place in life, something rarely accomplished in the mid-1700s. From the son of a gardener, he rose to the rank of commodore of the newly established Continental Navy of the United States of America. When he wasn't capturing enemy ships, he was charming the ladies of American and French society. So great was his reputation that Catherine the Great in far-off Russia sent for him to run her navy. Joness victories made him one of the greatest American heroes.

Examines the life and work of John Adams, the second president of the United States.

Learn about the life of the famous explorer.

Thomas Jefferson is one of the most famous men in American history. The list of his political accomplishments, such as writing the Declaration of Independence, serving as Minister to France, becoming America's third President, and spearheading the Louisiana Purchase, is long indeed. But that describes Jefferson the public servant. What about Jefferson the private man? How was he affected by the untimely death of his wife? Where did he long to be above all other places in the world? What was his reaction to his fights with Alexander Hamilton under President George Washington? How did his passion for continually rebuilding his home lead to worry? While most people know of and about many of the political deeds he performed, few know much about his personal life. This biography tells not only the public accomplishments of Thomas Jefferson, but also reveals the private side of his remarkable life.

Spanish explorer Hernando Corts is a very controversial figure. To some people, he was heroic. Even though he was greatly outnumbered, he was able to defeat the Aztec Emperor Montezuma and conquer the Aztec empire because of his personal courage and leadership abilities. The Aztec empire was centered in modern-day Mexico. Its religion was based on human sacrifice. Corts replaced it with Christianity.To others, including many Mexicans, he was a villain because he destroyed the Aztecs way of life. They believed he was a cruel man. He was also a symbol of Spanish domination. When Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, its people tried to remove their memories of him.Either way, one thing is certain. Hernando Corts was one of the most influential figures in the history of the New World.

Stephen Austin brought American colonists to Texas; negotiated with the Mexican government to help those settlers, and braved the frontier to keep an American presence in Texas. The story of this small, frail man from Missouri is the story of Texas.

Presents an account of three brothers George Tom and Boston Custer and their battle against Union soldiers and Native Americans during the Civil War and includes details about their early years through the Battle of Little Bighorn at which all 210 of George Custer s 7th Cavalry command were killed.

Abigail Adams was the equal of her husband, President John Adams, in many ways. She had strong views about women's rights and slavery, and she let him know exactly how she felt. Her strength and wisdom left a lasting mark on the fledgling U.S.

William Penn s Holy Experiment was a dedicated man s sincere effort to create a land where people of all faiths could live peacefully together. He founded Pennsylvania primarily as a safe haven for Quakers who were persecuted in Britain and other European countries. But he welcomed anyone, Quaker or not, who wanted to work hard to make a new life for his or her family. Penn's childhood was a happy one lived mostly in the country with his parents and brother and sister. He was a young adult when he first showed interest in the Quaker faith, and that interest never faded. His parents tried to persuade him tothat they mapped out for him as a government worker or some sort of royal official. Instead he founded Pennsylvania and formed his own government. It was as close as any colony would come to being a democracy.

In the eighteenth century, a woman had few choices. If she was lucky, she received a decent education. Then she got married. In an era when women didnt work, Clara Barton was one of the nations first career women. Not only did she work, she did a mans job and demanded a mans wage. Some said she was scandalous, but friends and family thought she was generous and charming. The wounded from the battles of the Civil War called her the angel of the battlefield.Clara Barton is remembered not only as a nurse, but also as a woman who threw convention aside and went to the battlefields to care for the wounded and dying. Her courageous heart, personal sacrifice, and demands for better medical care for the wounded during the Civil War earned her the respect and love of the entire nation. After the war, she applied the same attributes to the founding of the American Red Cross. She is still loved today.

Paul Revere was an expert silversmith. He became one of America's first industrialists. He was active in the movement that led to American independence. Yet Paul Revere's fame rests almost entirely on the few hours that he sped through the Massachusetts countryside in the early morning of April 19, 1775. He was warning the inhabitants that the British regulars were on their way. It marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Few people outside the Boston area knew of his exploit. It took another war the Civil War to make him famous throughout the country. A famous poet named Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wanted to prevent the Civil War. He showed his fellow Americans a hero they could all admire. To him and to millions of others after him Paul Revere was that hero

Voting is an important part of being an American. At one time, however, it was a right that only men enjoyed. That changed when a determined woman named Susan B. Anthony spoke up and acted on her beliefs. She was so sure of her cause that she was more than willing to go to court and state her case in front of everyone, regardless of the threat of imprisonment. Her passion showed the country that something was wrong. Women rallied behind her. Men came to see that women's voices were powerful and important not only in the home but also in the world at large. Anthony did not live long enough to see her vision for women realized. However, thanks to her years of countless speeches, writing, and hard work, along with the efforts of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and many others, women finally achieved what they rightfully deserved: the right to vote.

The war was looking bleak for the American colonists. General George Washington and his army had just barely escaped destruction at the Battle of Brooklyn, and now the mighty British fleet was preparing another attack. Washington desperately needed to figure out the enemy's plan. The only way to get the information he needed was to send a spy behind British lines. The soldier who volunteered to take the assignment was a twenty-one-year-old former schoolteacher named Nathan Hale. He became the first American spy executed in the line of duty, and his last words, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country," became a rallying cry for the Revolution. Nathan Hale's courage in the face of death has become an enduring symbol of American patriotism. His willingness to sacrifice his life for the greater good stands as a powerful testament to the selflessness that turns ordinary men into heroes.

Sir Walter Raleigh streaked across the Elizabethan heavens like a bright, shining star. Often regarded as a true Renaissance man that is, a man gifted with many talents and abilities he lived life to the fullest. Born to adventure, Raleigh parlayed a sharp mind and a yen for prestige and power into enough living for a dozen lesser men. As soldier, swashbuckler, writer, historian, poet, explorer, businessman, and more, he rose in favor at the court of Elizabeth I England’s Good Queen Bess and made history as he wrote it. Raleigh fought courageously for England in France, Ireland, and elsewhere at sea. He founded the first American colony at Roanoke Island in the New World, introduced tobacco and the potato to Ireland, and searched for the golden city of El Dorado in South America. At the peak of his fame some say infamy he knelt down as a commoner and arose as a knight.

When a young African-American seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus to a white passenger, she turned the smoldering civil rights movement into a firestorm. For years, blacks in the South had seen their civil liberties stolen through segregation laws that demanded the races be kept separate but equal - except there was no equality in it. Parks’ arrest was chosen to challenge the constitutionality of Montgomery’s bus segregation laws. Soft-spoken and unassuming, Rosa Parks was an unlikely activist. But her sense of justice inspired her to speak out against racism and injustice, regardless of the personal price it exacted. In the process, she became an enduring symbol of the power of an individual to change the course of history.

As America s first politician, Samuel Adams dedicated his life to improving the lives of the colonists. At a young age, he began talking and listening to people to find out what issues mattered the most. Adams proposed new ideas, first in his own newspaper, then in other newspapers throughout the colonies. When Britain began taxing the colonies, Adams encouraged boycotting and peaceful protests. He was an organizer of the Boston Tea Party, one of the main events leading up to the American Revolution. The British seemed intent on imprisoning Adams to keep him from speaking out, but he refused to stop. He was one of the first people to publicly declare that the colonies should be independent, and he worked tirelessly to see that they gained that independence. According to Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams was the Father of the Revolution.

John Peter Zenger was a German immigrant who came to the United States at the age of 13. He soon became a printer s apprentice and learned everything he could about printing. He published the first independent political newspaper in the American colonies, The New-York Weekly Journal. The British colonial government became angry about articles in the newspaper that criticized the government. They demanded to know who wrote the articles. Although Zenger wasn t the writer, he refused to tell and was arrested for printing seditious libel. After eight months in jail, a sensational trial was held that found Zenger not guilty. John Peter Zenger and his trial influenced freedoms of speech and press that were later made a part of the Bill of Rights. But the consequences of the Zenger trial reached even farther. As one of the founding fathers who wrote the U.S. Constitution, Gouverneur Morris said, The trial of Zenger in 1735 was the germ of American freedom, the morning star of that liberty which subsequently revolutionized America.

Eli Whitney was an inventor best known for his invention of the cotton gin. But it was his ideas and methods that had the greatest impact on America, bringing the country into the Industrial Revolution. He grew up as a farmer s son, but was often found in his father s workshop. As a boy during the American Revolution, he started his first business as a supplier of nails. Against his family s wishes, he insisted on getting an education from Yale. It was while he was studying to be a lawyer that he stumbled upon a solution to clean cotton. Whitney most enjoyed looking at a problem and trying to solve it, whether it was how to clean cotton or lock a desk. He created solutions with easily understood steps. With these steps, he developed a system of manufacturing that worked well with anything that had pieces to be put together. It would be used to mass-produce guns, sewing machines, and, later, cars. Today s manufacturing can be traced to Eli Whitney.

Many people do not realize that there were two theaters of warfare during the American Revolution. One was in the east, with George Washington and his Continental Army. The other was in the west, with George Rogers Clark and his spirited volunteers trying to hold off the British and their Native American allies.The story of George Rogers Clark is one of courage, bravery, and daring in the face of overwhelming odds. Often finding himself in what appeared to be a hopeless situation, Clark used skill and ingenuity to improvise his way to repeated victories. He was the fabled Long Knife, known far and wide not only for his brutality but also for his honesty and bravery. His victories played a key part in helping America win the War of Independence.

Tells the legend of Betsy Ross, a Patriot and seamstress who may have sewn America's first flag.

Citizens of the United States can thank James Madison, a man who lived 200 years ago, for some of the important rights they enjoy, including the right to speak their mind, criticize the government, and practice the religion of their choice. His important contributions to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights earned him the nickname Father of the Constitution. As the fourth president, James Madison guided the nation through some of its early growing pains, including the War of 1812, which finally broke the grips of a bullying Great Britain. Meanwhile, he and his glamorous wife threw some of the liveliest parties the White House had ever seen. When he died at the age of eighty-five, the nation mourned the passing of its last Founding Father. Madison was gone, but his foresight and tireless service had helped to carve out a free nation.

Born to a clergyman and his wife and raised by a wealthy aunt and uncle, John Hancock truly went from rags to riches. While still a young man, Hancock lent his name, money, and position in Bostons society to the ever-growing group of colonists calling for a complete break from England. He was labeled a traitor by King George III, who put a price of 500 pounds on his head, and was hunted by members of the kings army. Hancock made his way from Massachusetts to Connecticut to Philadelphia, where, in 1775, he represented Massachusetts at the Second Continental Congress. Hancocks life progressed from wealthy businessman to rebel to Founding Father.Born to a clergyman and his wife and raised by a wealthy aunt and uncle, John Hancock truly went from rags to riches. While still a young man, Hancock lent his name, money, and position in Bostons society to the ever-growing group of colonists calling for a complete break from England. He was labeled a traitor by King George III, who put a price of 500 pounds on his head, and was hunted by members of the kings army. Hancock made his way from Massachusetts to Connecticut to Philadelphia, where, in 1775, he represented Massachusetts at the Second Continental Congress. Hancocks life progressed from wealthy businessman to rebel to Founding Father.