A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent Historical Work
Review: A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic
by John E. Ferling is a magnificent historical work. It concerns the steps that were taken in creating the USA from the attempted Alabany Plan of Union in 1754 to the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson in 1801 that marked the first time in American history where control of the presidency was transferred from one party to another.

According to Ferling, there were two principal questions that informed the debate that lead to the creation of the American form of government: (A) what was the true relationship of the states to each other and to the federal government and (B) what was the true meaning of the term "republican form of government" that nearly everyone agreed should be the type of government that America should have.

A Leap in the Dark is a historical work at its best. Ferling combines in-depth historical research with writing that is easy to read. No academic stuffiness here. This book should be required reading in undergraduate history classes.

Rating:
Summary: should be required reading
Review: america needs to get a grip on it's own history to better relate to the rest of the world. from president bush down to the coffee house waitress, everyone needs to read this book. concentrating on the politics and personalities that produced our nation, it demonstrates that despite the flaws and narrow mindedness of many that the product of their work is about as good as people can devise. the founders were far from perfect, nor motives always pure, but they did the best they could with the cards dealt them. from the stamp act in 1765 to the election of jefferson in 1800, where the book ends, is a 35 year period that could have gone many different directions. then another 65 years to settle some of the unresolved issues with the civil war. then another 100 years to guarentee full citizenship to all people. we should remember this as the US seeks change in other countries under very difficult circumsatnces.

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Summary: The darkest hours before the dawn of a new nation
Review: As Ferling explains, "The title of this book was taken from a line in a newspaper essay written in 1776 by a Pennsylvanian who opposed American independence. [A substantial majority of colonials did.] To separate from the mother country, he cautioned, was to make 'a leap in the dark,' to jump into an uncertain future." Ferling goes on to note that, indeed, "Twenty years before independence, it would have been a leap in the dark for the individual colonies to surrender their autonomy and consent to a national confederation of thirteen provinces or for the imperial government in London to countenance such a union." In this volume, Ferling covers a period of time which extends from the Stamp Act of 1765 until Thomas Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801.

His focus is less on the Revolutionary War itself, more on the immensely complicated, at times confusing political process prior to and following the Declaration of Independence. Those who signed that document fully understood that they were also signing their own death warrant if the subsequent war were lost. It is probably impossible for us today to appreciate the nature and extent of uncertainty for those who resisted British policies, declared independence, went to war against the (then) world's greatest military power, embraced republicanism, ratified the Constitution, enfranchised additional citizens, elected or selected officials who had no prior experience with public service, and cast aside the culture and values of their Anglo-American past. It is this great "darkness" of peril and ambiguity which Ferling enables his reader to explore.

With all due respect to Ferling's comprehensive and compelling erudition, I especially appreciate his writing style with which he brilliantly enlivens the narrative with a mastery of figurative language worthy of a Dickens or Balzac. Without in any sense compromising his primary and secondary sources, he brings to life a society more than 200 years distant from ours and portrays each of its great leaders with style, wit, and grace, to be sure, but also acknowledges their flaws. I have always believed that major historical figures are credible only to the extent that they are presented as human beings rather than as deities. (I think that is especially true of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington.) In his final chapter, Ferling's concluding remarks about the election of 1800 also provide what I consider to be an appropriate conclusion to this brief commentary of mine: "Thus, the election of 1800 ushered in a revolution 'in the principles of our government as [profound as] that of 1776 was in its form.' The route to this new day was the road chosen by America's patriots in 1776, for they had believed that the 'blessings...necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people' included 'a wise and frugal government' that rejected tyranny and was based on the popular will. The day now had arrived when the government they wished was being installed. Its promise was considerable. Indeed, said President Jefferson, it was 'the world's best hope.'" And that remains true in 2004, more than 200 years later.

The title of this book may be "A Leap in the Dark" but it provides, in fact, a thoughtful and sensitive illumination of human potentialities, a vision which continues to guide and inform, indeed nourish our quest for enlightenment.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Ferling's other works, notably Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution, John Adams: A Life, Struggle for a Continent: The Wars of Early America (American History Series), The First of Men: A Life of George Washington, A Wilderness of Miseries: War and Warriors in Early America, and Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 (Pivotal Moments in American History).


Rating:
Summary: Worth your time
Review: Ferling's book is a delight. My professor recommended this book as extra reading in the class I am taking on the American Revolution. The book is engaging. Ferling gives a pleasurable read, even for the casual student of history.

Rating:
Summary: Bravo! Early U.S.A. History Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
Review: I've read a number of works about colonial America, the American Revolution, and the subsequent founding of the United States.
In my opinion, this is by far the best single volume book on the subject of the birth of the United States. Not only do you get a great overview of the events leading up to the American Revolution and the Revolution itself, but the story about the struggle to create the new nation after the 1783 peace settlement is also fascinating. This book is very well written. It will be welcomed reading for both the knowledgable American history enthusiast and for those who for the first time may be seeking to understand the birth of our great nation.

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Summary: An Excellent Narrative Account of the Path to Indepenence
Review: John Ferling is a gifted writer and skilled at extracting details that illuminate the founding fathers and the dramatic events of the Colonial era. He does an effective job of summarizing the philosophical ideas of the American founding and the bitter contest between the revolutionaries on one hand and the British soldiers and their loyalist allies on the other. Ferling concludes his book with the struggle to chart America's course between the Federalists and their opponents.

Rating:
Summary: A Complex Journey for Sure
Review: Organized resistance, declaring independence, winning the subsequent war with Great Britain, establishing a national constitutional state, and surviving the minefields of European rivalries - none of these developments were inevitable, or some cases even probable. A Leap in the Dark is an excellent exposition of the efforts, difficulties, conflicting interests, and justifications that were factors in the various colonies moving away from the protection of the mother state and achieving a stable, although somewhat fortunate, political presence. The leading figures (and some lesser figures) of the Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary era are seen having to deal with highly complex and divisive issues.

A lot of ground is covered in this book. The book opens with Benjamin Franklin, as an attendee of a multi-colonial conference in the mid 1750s, proposing that the colonies form a national body primarily for defense against the French and Indians. But the various colonies were far too protective of their quasi-independent standing to seriously pursue unity, not to mention the uneasiness of England in such a proposal. It took a series of incredibly heavy-handed edicts initiated by Parliament and British ministers from 1764-74 to create a sense of unity and common resolve among the colonists that countered their vast geographical and informational separation. But unanimity against the British hardly existed.

A constant theme in the book is the interplay of conservative, elitist, and aristocratic interests versus those more popular and democratic - that is republican. That divide also was part and parcel of the interplay of rural and urban interests; farming, artisanal, and mercantile interests; the interests of northern, middle Atlantic, and southern colonies; etc. It was no small feat to gain sufficient support to realistically declare independence; predictably new problems emerged. The newly emergent United States had to contend with an ineffectual national structure (the Articles of Confederation); inadequate funding of the war effort coupled with rampant inflation; and a series of military blunders - which taken together could have easily lost the war for the US.

The more conservative of the founders recognized the precarious position of the United States in the world community after signing a peace accord with Great Britain and pushed for a constitutional convention. The same differences and perspectives existed as before, but now the conservatives had the upper hand. The author clearly sees the US Constitution as a triumph for conservatives by the creation of a document that clearly was structured to check republican reform. The contentious ratification of the Constitution was a mere harbinger of what was to come in the next twelve years. During the presidencies of Washington and Adams, foreign affairs and the potential for alignment or warfare with Britain or France exacerbated existing differences and led to the more formal formation of the Federalist and Republican political parties. The American Revolution seemed to get off track with the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 at the behest of Hamilton and his supporters. But that zeal to restrict hard-fought freedoms is seemingly turned around as the author closes with the ascendancy of the republican forces, that is, Thomas Jefferson, to the presidency.

No one book can capture the complexity of the American Revolution. By necessity this book excludes at least some of the events and facts of that period. The author is far more concerned with capturing the thinking, contradictions, and the power of the different interests to propel their vision in that era. To cover such a complex thirty-five year period is an ambitious undertaking and is about as successful as could be expected. This book cannot help but add to an understanding of that most important period in our history.



Rating:
Summary: Adds Much-Needed Context to Personalities
Review: This book does an excellent job of synthesizing the political beliefs of the many founders of our country, providing context of both time and economic conditions. It is a well-written, engaging book for those of us who got caught up in the new round of biographies -- John Adama and Benjamin Franklin, most notably -- that renewed our love of U.S. history. It puts these figures in context against each other and gives us something to build from as we continue the exploration of our country's roots.

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Summary: All the gory details of the political side of the revolution
Review: This book is about politics - not war. Revolutionary battles are covered in 1 paragraph. But then it goes on in fascanating detail as to the political ramifications of the battle.

And it's not just the war. The book starts about 10 years before the declaration and goes up to Jefferson't inaguration. So you get the political sweep from when the colonists first started thinking of independence up to the point where the republic had a good chance of continuing to exist.

What is amazing how at so many points, the U.S. almost did not come in to being. And how at later points it slmost fell apart. And this book lays it all out in detail.

If you are interested in the real story of the creation of the United States, this is the book to read.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: Widely ignored as an authority by the likes of Ellis et al, Mr. Ferling is the best. Like a fine artist uses their palette of colors to paint a masterpiece, Mr. Ferling uses the written word to tell the intricacies of political life and its delicate balance and all of its gradations, both good and bad, during the tumultuous times of "The American Revolution".

As Mr. Ferling so accurately points out, there were many American Revolutions, fought on and off the battlefield that held the fate of our then tenuous independence and Union. I have never read an early American History book that so thoroughly transcends one in time to experience what "it" must have been like.

A must for any early American History buff!