INTRODUCTION he American Revolutionary War brought forth an independent nation known as the United States Once the fighting was over and freedom declared the job of form ing and sustaining the more perfect union envisioned in the Preamble to the US Constitution landed squarely on the shoul ders of the fledgling country s citizens The stories of these men and women are an impor tant part of U S history This book presents the biographies of several statesmen explor ers warriors and social reformers who helped shape the new American nation A number of revolutionary leaders gained important positions within the new federal government including the presidency In the latter group were George Washington John Adams and Thomas Jefferson The nation's first president Washington had proven him self a patriot as commander in chief of the Continental Army then as the officer who oversaw the writing of the Constitution Adams and Jefferson each had served under Washington as vice president and secretary of state respectively before being elected president themselves All three brought their personal and political beliefs to bear on the evolving U S
WASHIN R ESTED ENTS O TH Among those who built the New American Nation were the presidents including George Washington center and clockwise John Adams James Madison John Lyincy Adams Martin Van Buren James Tyler James Polk William Harrison Andrew Jackson James Monroe and Thomas Jefferson MPI Archive Photos Getty Images
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE NEW AMERICAN NATIONA GEORGE WASHINGTON THOMAS JEFFERSON Other statesmen guided the United States toward its unique brand of democracy through persuasion and compromise James Madison John Jay and Alexander Hamilton urged the pursuit of liberty through majority rule in essays that together are known as The Federalist Papers In 1830 Senator Daniel Webster spoke eloquently and at great length in defense of the Constitution and the power of the federal government which made him a national hero in the process When tariffs and the subject of slavery were creating a serious rift between northern and southern states Henry Clay repeatedly championed compromise legisla tion that kept the nation united for decades before the country erupted in civil war Expansion was a crucial element in the development of the new American nation In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on a west ward expedition to explore territory recently acquired in the Louisiana Purchase and estab lish a path to the Pacific Ocean The journey was also meant to establish ties with Native American tribes Shoshone maiden Sacagawea joined the expedition as an interpreter With her assistance Lewis and Clark were able to gain the help from Western Shoshone tribes that made the completion of their mission possible 10
INTRODUCTION Not all interactions with Native Americans were as successful Anger at the loss of land to white settlers resulted in native uprisings led by Indian chiefs such as Tecumseh and Osceola throughout the 18oos Relations between whites and African Americans at this time were also troublesome to say the least Nat Turner led a slave revolt in 1831 Virginia which strengthened the intensity of the argu ments on both sides of the slavery debate until the matter reached a boiling point during the American Civil War The treatment of groups such as Native and African Americans was protested by social reformersoftheage Chiefamongthese reform ers were the abolitionists who were against slavery William Lloyd Garrison a leading abo litionist used the power of his newspaper the Liberator to spread his anti slavery message The work of former slave and brilliant speaker Frederick Douglass also helped put an end to slavery in the United States It is safe to say that the personal lives of these and other leading U S figures were influenced by historic events that occurred as their country grew and prospered and vice versa Their stories are truly the stories of the new American nation 11
