Early modern European governments and their subjects had difficulty agreeing to laws governing behavior on the sea—an environment that featured watery borders; rampant piracy; the threat of free trade; and the large-scale transportation of human cargo. The essays in this volume explore how the exploitation of the oceans changed the institution of slavery; long-distance trade; property crime; the environment; literature; and memory from medieval times to the nineteenth century.
#1038210 in Books Hackett Pub Co Inc 2004-03-15Original language:English 9.00 x 6.00 x 1.25l; 2.23 #File Name: 0872207056752 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Stephen RoffSuperb in depth look at the people and events leading up to the Declaration of Independence.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Absolutely the best one-volume history of the coming of the American RevolutionBy J. W. GoetschMy review is of the original printed edition OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS (1969); ISBN-10: 0196316758. A second edition (March 15; 2004) at .com has a more complete description and comments by three noted professors/historians.My thoughts on this book agree 100% with the Newberry Library; and the Princeton Northwestern University reviews below (second edition ISBN-10: 0872207056). I will say that I stumbled upon Merrill Jensen after reading several books by Bernard Bailyn who referenced him many times. I decided I must get my hands on Merrill Jensen's writings. This book is priceless. Mr. Jensen's exhaustive research takes account of British government records as well as those of all thirteen colonies; and of the pamphlets; newspapers; and handbills of both parties. I have not found a better text that provides the points of view of all parties then Jensen’s “The Founding of a Nation – A History of the American Revolution; 1763 – 1776â€.The .com on-line description for the 2004 edition includes these three comments:"The Founding of a Nation is the best one-volume narrative political history of the American Revolution from 1763 to 1776. I have turned to it again and again for its clear; reliable accounts of events. It is a magnificent work by a master scholar based on an unsurpassed knowledge of the original sources." --Alfred Young; Senior Research Fellow; Newberry Library"After thirty-five years; Jensen's Founding of a Nation is still; by a good margin; the best one-volume history of the coming of the American Revolution." --John M. Murrin; Princeton University"This wonderfully rich volume challenges those who claim that political history is arid; narrow; or worse; irrelevant to our own concerns. Jensen's study explores popular political mobilization on the eve of American independence. It reconstructs the complex decisions that slowly; often painfully transformed a colonial rebellion into a genuine revolution. Jensen's well-paced narrative never loses sight of the ordinary men and women who confronted the most powerful empire in the world." --T.H. Breen; William Smith Mason Professor of American History; Northwestern UniversityPublisher: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS (1969)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0196316758Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company; Inc. (2004)Language: EnglishISBN-13: 978-087220705920 of 21 people found the following review helpful. The Real Revolution ExplainedBy G. F GoriMerrill Jensen's monumental work "The Founding of a Nation 1763-1776" is incredible and detailed history of the real American Revolution. What I mean by that is; not the military campaigns or generals; but the events and people that made the revolution possible.The work starts with America after the Seven Years War with France. Jensen shows how colonial opposition to British measures enacted by Parliament caused a "constitutional crisis" and a defense of what were tradiational "English liberties". Jensen provides the motivations for the revolutionaries both conservative and radical. Conservatives wished for reconciliation right up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and were led by able and well educated men. Dickenson; De Lancy; Governeuor Morris; Robert Morris; James Wilson; and others strove to stay within the Empire to protect their aristocracy from the "rabble". Samuel Chase; Thomas Jefferson; Samuel Adams; Dr. Thomas Young; Issac Sears; and other radicals opposed English tyranny and brought the "people" to the forefront of the crisis.Jensen deliniates the Sugar Act; Stamp Act; Coercive Acts; Massachuetts Government Act; Tea Act; Declatory Act; and other English laws that violated the rights of the colonists and were the beginnings of a more centralized English authority in America. Jensen also provides a tremendous story of the the battles between the colonial governments; loyalists and the revolutionaries. He also aptly explains the battles between the radicals and conservative patriots in the colonies and the struggle for a more democratic America. overall a brilliant and comprehensive work of the the first magnitude. A great purchase for the layman interseted in this great Revolution.
