Collects Benjamin Franklin's best-known writings, both personal and public, arranged by period and place, and includes scholarly notes.

"Lydia Lymkin is inspired to learn about the Declaration of Independence while watching an Independence Day parade in her hometown. Lydia's father explains the reasons for and the importance of this historic document that launched the founding of the United States of America."--Back cover.

Ferling (history, U. of West Georgia), author of many books on Revolutionary War era America, traces the evolution of the idea of independence and the events and decisions that ultimately led Congress, with the support of most Americans, to declare independence. The book evaluates key players in the process, both important members of the Continental Congress, many of whom were deeply divided about which course to pursue up until July 1776, and important...

"After Thomas Jefferson visited Mount Vernon in 1801 to pay his respects to George Washington's widow, Martha Washington remembered the encounter as the second-worst experience of her life-after the death of her husband. The two founders had become estranged by the time that Washington died. But for most of the time that they had known one another, from their first meeting in 1769, they enjoyed a productive and positive relationship. Contrary to the...