Mailbox Monday - May 13

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

We are back to Monday again. I hope my fellow moms had a nice Mother's Day. The weather was yucky, but at least Saturday I got a chance to clean up the flower beds and move some of the plants I've been wanting to move for the past couple of years.

The family treated me to a bunch of nice cards.

Then we all went out to eat. 

My mother-in-law is staying with us, which is nice. I've been struggling with a bit of depression lately. All this nonsense with the church really has me down. I need to find a new church, but don't really want to. I'll bring her to church somewhere while she is here, but it isn't the same. Hopefully she is okay with it.

On the book front, I treated myself to two books. One had been on pre-order. The other I bought while shopping at Walmart yesterday.

That's it from me this week. Hope you enjoy all your new books.

Mailbox Monday - May 6

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Welcome back to Monday. Hope you all had a great week. Mine included attending a webinar on insurance (doesn't that sound like fun), a two-day class on negotiation, renting out an apartment, doctor appointments, reading, and attending the Lil' Princess' school dance show. The girls always put on an amazing performance.

My garden is growing some, but we have had a lot of rain and very little sun. Rain is supposed to come three days this week too. I might just start building an ark.

The mail carrier brought me two presents this week.

Then I treated myself to a Kindle freebie.

Reading is slow going, but I am getting things done. Hopefully, I'll have more reading and writing time in the next couple of weeks.

What was in your mailbox? Anything special that you were really excited about?

Barbour Launching New and Unique Historical Fiction Series

Read my Family Fiction This Week news today and discovered Barbour Publishing is launching an 18-book historical fiction series that follows one family tree through American history. Now, for those of you who don't know it: I love historical fiction and I am partial to American history. I live here after all. I can't remember the last time I have been this excited about a new series.

The series is slated to release over three years starting in February 2018 with The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse. According to the site, "This book, which takes place in 1620, features voyages on two ships, the Speedwell and the Mayflower, and will set the stage for subsequent books with its focus on adventure, romance, and a thread of espionage that is woven throughout each of the 18 stories.
"Releasing every other month by a team of well-known authors, the Daughters of the Mayflower will satisfy voracious readers of Christian fiction continuously for three years. The books are written in such a way that they can be read in succession or stand alone, making them perfect for readers interested in specific time periods in American history."

You can learn more about this series and the first six books being released at https://www.familyfiction.com/barbour-launches-unique-historical-fiction-series/

Mailbox Monday - May 5

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

It was a big book week for me. Our library's spring book sale attracted my attention, so I picked up several books. I also received a box of children's books from Clavis--which I won't list because there are so many of them, in addition to a picture book from Cuento De Luz.

This is one book in Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative series. This hardcover 40th Anniversary Edition includes events of the first ten months of the conflict from Fort Sumter to Fort Henry largely through the lives of Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln. The glossy pages include numerous historical photographs. Picking this book up for only $1 was a steal.

How women emerged as a distinctive class in the burgeoning society of New York City in the pre-Civil War era is explored from an original viewpoint in this interesting study. Female class relations, ``ladies'' and working women, were symbiotic. The laborers had their sexual and social demeanor regulated by their middle-class sisters, who had the leisure to act as ``self-appointed exemplars of virtue.'' The women of the working class come to life in Stansell's identification of their lot. Adrift from family ties, they entered the labor force, many resorting to prostitution and crime, which provoked the philanthropy of genteel bourgeois women, social reformers and the rise of the settlement house movement. The neighborhoods of the poor, the tenements and bawdy houses of 19th century New York are portrayed as important elements in women's history.

You never know what you'll use for research purposes. I thought this title looked interesting. Another $1 steal.

New England's most acclaimed award-winning crime and mystery writers, along with several exciting new voices, weave twenty-seven original tales from the region's dark side. Praise for Level Best Books "...twenty-five of the most cleverly written and thought-provoking crime stories ever assembled in one collection." Brenda Scott, Manchester Examiner "Clearly the editors of this anthology have poured their energy into selecting the very best from the New England area, and they have succeeded, brilliantly." Christine Zibas, Reviewing the Evidence

I love crime stories, but that these are set in New England is a bonus. I like reading stories set in areas I am familiar with. I paid a whopping thirty-four cents for this one.

Book 8

It’s Independence Day, and Ivy Bay is decked out for the holiday. Mary is enjoying the annual Fourth of July parade until the July Queen, a local high school student named Amanda Branson, disappears from her float in the middle of the festivities. The police immediately begin searching for the missing girl, but she seems to have vanished without a trace. Deepening the mystery, Mary thinks she saw Amanda at the docks shortly after the parade. She can’t be sure it was really Amanda, though, so Chief McArthur won’t listen to her.

Every day that passes makes it less likely that Amanda is unharmed, but Mary is determined to bring her home safely. Then her investigation reveals a startling possibility: Does Mary’s granddaughter Daisy hold the key to finding Amanda?

Book 15

Christmas is coming, and Mary is excited that both of her children are bringing their families to Ivy Bay for the holiday. Grace Church is putting on its first ever living Nativity, and the congregation members are all pitching in, including Mary and Betty. But only a week before Christmas, the costumes go missing. Then the sheep escapes from its pen and the flyers around town have all been torn down. Someone is sabotaging the living Nativity! As Mary investigates the strange mishaps, she discovers that the truth is far more complicated than she expected. Can she save the Nativity - and the church's "goodwill toward men" - before Christmas?

Book 17

When Mary tries to refinance the mortgage on the bookshop, her application is denied because of the large balance on her new credit card. But she hasn't opened a new account and certainly hasn't been on any spending spree. Mary is the victim of identity theft!

Mary has to prove the credit card isn't hers, which means finding the person who stole her personal information. Who has access? The postal carrier who keeps redirecting mail to his own pockets? The nurse of the women's clinic where Mary applied to volunteer? Or the woman in charge of the matchmaking fund-raiser that Mary was persuaded to sign up for? As she races to clear her name, she realizes that the true identity of her identity theft could be the person she least suspects.

I had no idea where in the series these books fit when I bought them, but I love cozy mysteries. The price was right too.

Although he works as a train mechanic, Andy’s real passion is gardening: he loves flowers so much that his little apartment is full of plants of all shapes and sizes. When a company offers him a new job with a good salary and a house with a big garden, Andy accepts without hesitation, unaware that maybe he’s putting at risk things much more important than his job or his hobby…

Overflowing with imagination and illustrations that capture all of the beauty of the world of flowers, The Gardener’s Surprise is a moving story about the importance of our beliefs in our daily lives, as well as a celebration of personal passions as excellent ways of achieving happiness.

As you can see, it was a busy book week here. What was in your mailbox?

The Friday 56 - Week 160

Welcome to Week 160!

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post to the Linky at Freda's Voice. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Next to winning the Civil War and abolishing slavery, building the first transcontinental railroad was the greatest achievement of the American people in the nineteenth century.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter Z

We've come to the end of another year in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. I hope you'll let me know if you enjoyed these posts. The history refresher sure did me some good.

Freedom of the press has its origins in the Bill of Rights, but decades before the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights were ever drafted, the trial of publisher John Peter Zenger, would prove a milestone in the struggle for freedom of the press.

Born in Germany in 1697, Zenger emigrated to New York City at the age of 13 to work as an indentured apprentice to printer William Bradford. Financially backed by chief justice Lewis Morris and others who opposed William Cosby, the corrupt royal governor of New York, Zenger started the New-York Weekly Journal in 1733. The publication accused Cosby of rigging elections and a list of other crimes.

Even though Zenger never wrote the articles, as publisher, he was legally responsible for the paper's content. This led to his arrest for seditious libel in 1734. He spent ten months in jail and his wife, Anna, kept the paper going. It was Anna's reports that led to the replacement of the first jury in Zenger's trial, which was stacked with people on Cosby's payroll.

Andrew Hamilton, a famous lawyer from Philadelphia, defended Zenger. Hamilton argued Zenger had not committed seditious libel because the printed material was true. Though the court refused to accept evidence submitted to prove the truth of the articles, the jury acquitted Zenger, which paved the way for other publishers to feel free sharing their honest views.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter W

We're in the home stretch of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. I hope you've enjoyed traipsing through history with me.

As an annual visitor to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the Wright Brothers. Orville and Wilbur Wright were the sons of a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Educated in Ohio, Iowa, and Indiana, neither attended college.

In 1889, the brothers launched a print shop. Though they continued with the printing shop, the brothers entered the bicycle trade in 1892 and were manufacturing bicycles by 1896. The Wrights became interested in flight after the death of German aeronautical experimenter Otto Lilienthal in a glider crash. 

Wilbur and Orville constructed seven aircraft between  1899 and 1905. Their failures led them to perform a series of experiments which would propel them toward success. On December 17, 1903, the brothers made the world's first powered, sustained, and controlled flights with a heavier-than-air flying machine in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Returning to Ohio, they continued their experiments. By 1905, they had transformed their 1903 flying machine into the first practical airplane. 

On November 22, 1909, the brothers founded the Wright Company to build and sell aircraft in the United States and licensed manufacturers to produce their machines in Europe. 

As you can see by the above picture, the sand dunes of North Carolina would be a perfect place for test flights. This shot is taken across from Jockey's Ridge State Park, which is a few miles away from the Wright Brothers Memorial that is administered by the National Park Service. The museum located near the memorial is filled with tons of interesting artifacts and photos. When I checked out their website, I learned that the Wright Monument is the largest monument in this country built to a living person. 

Hang gliding, kiteboarding, and parasailing are popular activities on the Outer Banks.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter V

We're fast approaching the end of the final full week of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.

The Volstead Act is often referred to as the National Prohibition Enforcement Act of 1919. This act provided for the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment, which stated, "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited." This act, which classified as alcoholic all beverages containing more than one-half to one percent alcohol by volume, passed over President Woodrow Wilson's veto.

Viewed by many Americans to be the solution to the nation's poverty, crime, violence, and other problems, the act specified the provisions of the Eighteenth Amendment, delineated fines and prison terms for violators of the law, and empowered the Bureau of Internal Revenue to administer Prohibition.

Shortly after the Eighteenth Amendment went into affect, portable stills went on sale around the country. Smuggling quickly developed. Prohibition also led to the widespread corruption of law enforcement agencies and politicians and fostered the growth of organized crime.

Calls to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment began in 1923. Though President Herbert Hoover and others believed it an "experiment noble in purpose," an investigation ordered by Hoover in 1929 confirmed that the Eighteenth Amendment remained largely unenforceable. Repeal organizations formed and grew in membership as people realized that not only had Prohibition failed to live up to its promises, but had actually created disturbing social issues.

The overwhelming victory of Democrats in 1932, who had come out in favor of repealing Prohibition, encouraged Congress to pass the Twenty-first Amendment on February 20, 1933, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment. It is the only Constitutional Amendment that has been repealed.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter U

Trucking along to the letter U during this week's Blogging from A to Z April Challenge posts.

There were more items of interest under the letter U than I thought: Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Underground Railroad, United States Women's Bureau, and urban renewal to name a few. I finally settled on something I knew very little about. My hubby would be so disappointed, since this hails back to one of his favorite interests: the Cold War.

The U-2 Affair took place on May 1, 1960 during the Eisenhower administration. A United States reconnaissance plane flying at high altitudes was downed over the Soviet Union. U. S. officials denied the plane's mission, stating it was a weather plane that strayed off course. When the Soviets produced the pilot and the mostly intact plane, the United States admitted it had been engaged in intelligence activities.

A summit conference scheduled between President Eisenhower, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and France's Charles de Gaulle, collapsed because Eisenhower, though accepting full responsibility for the intelligence gathering program, refused to apologize for the incident. The pilot, Gary Powers, pleaded guilty and was convicted of espionage. He served almost two years of a ten-year prison sentence before being exchanged for Rudolf Abel, a Soviet intelligence officer, in February 1962.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter T

The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is now up to the letter T.

The Trail of Tears refers to the route followed by 16,000 Cherokee Indians when they were forcibly removed by the United States Government from their homelands in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia in 1838, and sent to Indian Territory (known today as Oklahoma).

Relations between the Cherokee Nation and the U.S. government had been tense for some time. In 1791, a U.S. treaty recognized the Cherokee territory in Georgia as independent. The Cherokee people created a thriving republic and wrote a constitution. But over the years, the state of Georgia sought to exert its authority over the Cherokee Nation without little effect.

President Andrew Jackson was a supporter of Indian removal. Continued pressure from national and state governments led to the rounding up of the Cherokee by troops in 1838. Forced to abandon everything, the Cherokee were marched to camps in Tennessee. Then during the winter, they were moved another 800 miles into Indian Territory. Hundreds died during the trip west, and thousands more died as a result of being relocated.

The path the Cherokee followed because a national monument in 1987. You can find out more about the Trail of Tears at http://www.nps.gov/trte/index.htm

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter S

Today starts the final full week of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. This is the last day I will share the linky code. Hope you get a chance to visit some of the other participants. I learn a lot about a variety of subjects, since I make a point to check out different blogs throughout the month.

I have to admit to being fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials. I've never been to Salem before, which is a shame since we live in Massachusetts. Part of that is because the hubby and I enjoy the history of different time periods. I'm early American history through the Civil War and he's World War II through the end of the Cold War.

In February of 1692, a group of girls in Salem Village began experiencing fits where they thrashed about and shrieked. After repeated questioning by adults, the girls began claiming local residents were witches and wizards. As the circle of people accused of being witches and wizards increased, so did the number of fits. By the end of the summer, hundreds had been accused, twenty-seven put on trial, and nineteen executed.

Growing discomfort over the trials within Salem Village, the wider community, and for some religious and civic leaders, led the governor, William Phips, to forbade further trials. Phips formed a new court in January 1863, that worked under stricter guidelines for evidence of witchcraft. The rest of the residents imprisoned for witchcraft were either acquitted or discharged.

Some historians link the witch trials to the changes that Puritan society was experiencing at the time. This type of mass hysteria has also been used as a cautionary tale about the dangers of isolationism and religious extremism.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter R

Today closes out the third week of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. I hope you're enjoying these posts.

Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States. Born in Illinois in 1911, he earned a Bachelor's Degree in economics and sociology from Eureka College. After a brief career in radio broadcasting, Reagan moved to Los Angeles and became an actor. A staunch Democrat, he changed political parties in 1962 and delivered a powerful speech for Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964.

Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966. In 1968, shortly after beginning his term as governor, Reagan sought the Republican presidential nomination, running unsuccessfully against Richard M. Nixon. Reagan was re-elected as governor in 1970, but declined to run for a third term.

Reagan ran unsuccessfully against Gerald Ford for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination, but Ford went on to lose to Democrat Jimmy Carter for president. Embroiled with domestic problems and the Iran hostage crisis, Jimmy Carter lost his bid for reelection to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Not even 100 days into his first term, an attempt was made on Reagan's life. He became the first president to survive an assassination attempt. Believing big government to be a problem, Reagan attempted to stimulate the economy with large, across-the-board tax cuts and the slashing of government programs. Reagan's policy of trickle-down economics was criticized as helping the wealthy more than those suffering in poverty, and the 80s soon became known as "The Decade of Greed." His "peace through strength" policy supported a large military build up. Reagan denounced the Soviet Union as an evil empire and during a moving address in Berlin in the summer of 1987, he called for General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." A series of summits with Gorbachev would lead to the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty at the White House. By 1989, the Cold War was over and the Soviet Union collapsed.

The invasion of Grenada, the firing of more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers, and the Iran-Contra affair tested public support of Reagan, but he would leave office as the most popular president since Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ronald Reagan died in 2004, after battling Alzheimer's Disease for 10 years.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter Q

We're closing in on the end of the third week of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. I haven't been as good about commenting on other blogs this week because the girls are on vacation. I spent a lot of today running around bringing girls here and there. Hopefully things will settle down this weekend.

The Quebec Act was passed by Parliament in 1774, annexing the Ohio region to Canada. Considered by the Colonists to be one of the Intolerable Acts, this helped spur the colonies into revolution. The Proclamation of 1763 had banned the colonists from the Ohio territory, but they hoped they would eventually be allowed to move there. To defy the proclamation would now make them Canadians. The Continental Congress complained of the Quebec Act in several petitions, calling it "the worst grievance."

Blogging from A to Z Challenge - Letter M

Today is the start of the third week of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. If I had scheduled this post to run before we left for New York City yesterday, this would have been a very different post. While our family enjoyed a mini-vacation, a tragedy occurred in our home state of Massachusetts. Two bombs were set off during the Boston Marathon. So far, two are confirmed dead (one of them a child) and dozens were injured. In honor of the victims and their families, I offer this post on the history of the Boston Marathon.

The Boston Marathon is the oldest annual marathon in the world. The first Boston Marathon took place in 1897, inspired by the Olympics of the previous year. It coincides with Patriots' Day each year. Patriots' Day is a statewide holiday that commemorates the opening battle of the American Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775. While the Boston Marathon started out as a local event, it now attracts competitors and spectators from around the world. More than 22,000 participants signed up for the 2012 Boston Marathon. Over 24,000 participants started off at Hopkinton this year. The 26.2 mile current route can be seen here.

Latest news reports state the White House believes today's bombing was an act of terrorism, but no one is claiming responsibility, and it is not known if the attack came from a foreign entity or is home-grown terrorism.

My prayers go out to all who have been affected by today's events.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter L

This ends the second week of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. I hope you're enjoying these posts.

The Lawrence Strike began in January 1912 against the textile mills in Lawrence, MA. The owners of a mill lowered workers' pay when a new state law shortened the work week. Within a few days, 10,000 men and women went out on strike.

For weeks the workers held rallies and picketed. The mill owners reached out to the United Textile Workers of America to break the strike, but they were unsuccessful. Local police clashed with striking workers constantly; and when a woman was killed, labor organizers were arrested for her murder (though later acquitted). Another organizer, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, attempted to gain public sympathy for the workers by sending a group of the strikers' children to be cared for in other cities. This turned out to be successful when photos were taken of police beating women and children at the train station.

On March 1, the owners granted a five percent pay raise. The workers continued to hold out, and within weeks, all four of their demands were met.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter I

We're halfway through the second week of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.

I recently reviewed a book where the widowed female lead was sold by her husband's family into indentured service and whisked away to the colonies. As I traveled the blogosphere over the last few weeks, I also came across a book about a man sold into indentured service. Looks like this might be gaining popularity in historical fiction right now.

The Virginia Company devised this system in the late 1610s to finance recruitment and transport of workers from England to the colony. If you couldn't afford to book Atlantic passage, you could "borrow" the necessary funds. In return for their passage, room and board during service, and "freedom dues" at the end of the term, servants signed contracts to work for their masters for a certain number of years.

According to The Reader's Companion to American History edited by Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, during the colonial era, 200,000 to 300,000 servants came to North America, accounting for one-half to two-thirds of all European immigrants. Many were teenage boys and girls from poor families who went to work for more prosperous farmers until they married. Though not a form of slavery, servitude was a rough life. They had some legal rights, but they couldn't even marry without an owner's consent and had little control over the conditions and terms of their living and working standards.

Servants were crucial to the colonial economy, but as demands for servants grew and prices rose, African slaves replaced servants in the fields, while those servants moved into positions as craftsmen and domestics.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter H

Today is the 8th day of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. If you're just joining in, this is a blogging challenge where Monday through Saturday bloggers post about a topic that matches a letter of the alphabet. Some of us are using themes, others are just blogging about what comes to mind. This year, I chose history as my theme. I try to be diverse with my topics, but I am partial to early American history.

Hunting has been a popular sport for a long time. Though my family and I don't engage in this activity, we know many people who are avid hunters. According to Old-Timey Sportsmen, hunting for meat, skins, feathers, and bone began before the arrival of Homo sapiens. Early weapons were rocks and sticks, but as time progressed sharpened spears and chipped stone points were useful. The development of the firearm, however, was a huge breakthrough.

In America, buffalo hunting as a profession got underway during the Civil War, aided by large caliber .58 rifles left over from the war. Breechloading weapons soon followed. As white settlers moved west, buffalo hunting as a sport had a negative impact on Native Americans who depended upon buffalo hunting to survive. Tensions rose between Native Americans and the white man leading to violence, while Native Americans fought to hold on to their way of life. By the end of the Frontier era, the population of Native Americans and buffalo had steeply declined.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge (Letter A)

Today starts the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. This year, they added categories to help bloggers theme their posts. You don't have to choose one, but you can. I opted for history, since I enjoy it so much.

Before we get to today's post, however, I would like to take a moment to thank Arlee Bird, the founder of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. I'm thrilled to be able to participate in this great event with over 1700 other bloggers. This is fun way to commit to blogging and a wonderful way to network. You can find Arlee at http://tossingitout.blogspot.com.

For today's post, I have chosen Appomattox. This is where Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865. Lee is quoted as saying, "There is nothing left for me to do but go and see General Grant and I would rather die a thousand deaths." Though Grant believed the Confederates fought for a terrible cause, he was still saddened and depressed "at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly..."

Approximately, 620,000 soldiers died during the Civil War.

Did you know that before and during the Civil War, the town now known as Appomattox was actually called Nebraska, VA? You can read more Appomattox history at http://www.townofappomattox.com/government/history/

Teaser Tuesdays - December 18th

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The McFarland Trial sensitized the public and the medical profession to the inherent inequities with the insanity defense. A compassionate society tempers retribution with reason.

~ page 88, The Abraham Man by R. Gregory Lande

Free for All Friday: John Locke: Philosopher of American Liberty by Mary-Elaine Swanson

To make up for missing last Friday's giveaway, I am offering two giveaways this week. John Locke: Philosopher of American Liberty by the late Mary-Elaine Swanson is a great book for lovers of American history. I'm reading it now and am totally captivated.

Mary-Elaine Swanson has done an invaluable service for this and subsequent generations by resurrecting awareness and presenting an accurate knowledge of John Locke and his reasoning through an uncensored view of his life, writings, and incalculable influence on America. This book will help Americans understand the importance of Locke’s thinking for American constitutionalism today.

You will learn the real meaning of the “law of nature” as it was embraced in Colonial America and the separation of church and state embraced in the Constitution. The founding fathers looked to Locke as the source of many of their ideas. Thomas Jefferson considered Locke as one of the three greatest men that ever lived.

Locke advocated separation of the state from the church and extension of religious toleration. Locke’s political writings were an enormous influence on America’s founders in the preservation of liberty and the establishment of representative government. Locke’s contributions to American Liberty can clearly be seen interwoven in our colonial Declarations of Rights, paraphrased in our Declaration of Independence, and incorporated into our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Declaration is born of the extensively studied and widely taught Treatises On Civil Government by John Locke. There Locke reasoned the very purpose of forming civil government is the protection of property, and that “life, liberty, and property (pursuit of happiness)” are not three separate rights but intrinsically one great and inalienable right he called “property”—which begins with the life of the individual, then his liberty which is essential to his productivity, followed by the right to enjoy the fruits of his labors without fear that the government will confiscate his property. These inalienable rights are from God and legitimate government has no authority to take them away but is chartered in fact to preserve and protect liberty.

George Grant, PhD, Pastor & Educator, said, “Locke was the fountainhead of American liberty and…he may yet prove to be the harbinger of a new day of freedom ahead.”

Lawyer Robert M. Damir said, “This book should be read by anyone who is deeply troubled about the direction in which America is headed.”

Educator and Foundation President, Carole G. Adams, PhD, stated, “Because Americans generally are disconnected from their true national identity, this book should be in every home and every schoolroom.”

Hon Rick Green, lawyer, former Texas Representative, and educator, believes that, “Every state and national legislator in America needs to read this book.”

History & Government Study Groups leader, Ben Gilmore, said, “This book ranks among the ten most significant books of the decade. It should be read by every American pastor and activist patriot.”

Read an excerpt!

The Declaration Foundational to the Constitution (from chapter 15)

Today it is important for Christians also to understand that the fundamental natural law principles stated in the Declaration of Independence were foundational to the Constitution and were so understood as late as the 1860s. Indeed, at the Reconstruction Congress meeting in 1866, Thaddeus Stevens, in urging adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, declared:

It cannot be denied that this terrible struggle [of the Civil War] sprang from the vicious principles incorporated into the institutions of our country [i.e., slavery]. Our Fathers had been compelled to postpone the principles of their great Declaration, and wait for their full establishment till a more propitious time. That time ought to be present now.

Professor Erler, quoted at the beginning of this chapter, points out that references to the Declaration as law were so frequent in these debates that it is clear that the Reconstruction Congress was ratifying “a refounding of the regime“ in the Constitution that had occurred after the victory in the Civil War. He believes that the Civil War was, in a sense, “the last battle of the Revolutionary War,” because it was only the Reconstruction Amendments that brought the Constitution into line with the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

I have a copy of this wonderful book to giveaway. Use the Rafflecopter form to enter. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway