{"product_id":"american-scripture-making-the-declaration-of-independence-9780679779087","title":"American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence","description":"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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMaier 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 \u003ci\u003eCommon Sense\u003c\/i\u003e, which shifted the terms of debate; and the political maneuvers that allowed Congress to make the momentous decision. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMaier 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Pauline Maier\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/26\/1998\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.55lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.04h x 5.32w x 0.73d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780679779087\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/05\/1998 pg. 20\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePauline Maier was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. She received her B.A. from Radcliffe College in 1960, was a Fulbright Scholar at the London School of Economics in 1960-61, and took her Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1968. She has taught at Harvard, the University of Massachusetts (Boston), University of Wisconsin, Yale University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she has been William R. Kenan, Junior, Professor of American History since 1990. She is the author of \u003cb\u003eFrom Resistance to Revolution, The Old Revolutionaries\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003eThe American People: A History\u003c\/b\u003e, a single-authored text for junior high school, as well as numerous other articles and reviews.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Pauline Maier \/ Paperback \/ English","offer_id":47792832741533,"sku":"9780679779087","price":29.14,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_7bbefae8-520b-4044-bb96-195231816f40.jpg?v=1774982796","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/american-scripture-making-the-declaration-of-independence-9780679779087","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}