Seven Virginians, the culmination of a lifetime of erudition by one of America’s leading historians, reveals the integral role played by seven major Virginians before, during, and after the American Revolution: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, George Mason, Patrick Henry, and John Marshall.
Most accounts of the founding generation focus only on the activities of the ‘big three’—Washington, Jefferson, and Madison—but Boles incorporates the key contributions of these other four important figures to the political and legal structures that govern the United States to this day. At the same time, Boles is clear-eyed about the Revolutionary generation’s problems and their fading from the scene, inaugurating the beginnings of Virginia’s political decline in the early nineteenth century. In so doing, Boles provides the crucial Virginian piece to the ongoing reevaluation of the United States’ founding moment.
Table of Content
Introduction
1. The First Rumblings
2. The Fateful Step
3. Winning Independence
4. Unresolved Problems
5. Creating a New Government
6. The Virginia Ratification Debate
7. Launching the New Nation
8. Political Fissures
9. Political Crisis
10. A Political Turning Point
11. Jefferson, Madison, and John Bull
12. Mr. Madison’s War
13. A Maturing Nation
14. Institution Builders
15. Legacy Deferred: The End of a Dynasty
About the author
John B. Boles is the William P. Hobby Emeritus Professor of History at Rice University, former editor (1983–2013) of the Journal of Southern History, a former president of the Southern Historical Association, and author of Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty.
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