Hi everyone,
I'm extremely excited this week, because a book
that I have been working on for many years has finally been published! If you
haven't seen it in the History Department hall display, check it out on
Amazon.com! It's titled James McHenry, Forgotten Federalist and the
University of Georgia Press (a very good academic publishing house) has done a
wonderful job. If you would like to know more about what the book is about,
here is the text from the press. Enjoy!
A long
overdue chapter in the history of America’s Founders
"Karen E. Robbins’s James McHenry,
Forgotten Federalist is a welcome addition to the literature on the
Revolution and early American republic, rescuing a misunderstood patriot from
undeserved obscurity. Her fresh and fair-minded account of McHenry’s career as
John Adams’s secretary of war is a particularly notable contribution to our
understanding of these critically important years."—Peter S. Onuf, author
of Jefferson’s Empire: The Language of American Nationhood
A Scots-Irish immigrant, James McHenry determined
to make something of his life. Trained as a physician, he joined the American
Revolution when war broke out. He then switched to a more military role,
serving on the staffs of George Washington and Lafayette. He entered government
after the war and served in the Maryland Senate and in the Continental
Congress. As Maryland’s representative at the Constitutional Convention,
McHenry helped to add the ex post facto clause to the Constitution and worked
to increase free trade among the states.
As secretary of war, McHenry remained loyal to
Washington, under whom he established a regimental framework for the army that
lasted well into the nineteenth century. Upon becoming president, John Adams
retained McHenry; however, Adams began to believe McHenry was in league with
other Hamiltonian Federalists who wished to undermine his policies. Thus, when
the military buildup for the Quasi-War with France became unpopular, Adams used
it as a pretext to request McHenry’s resignation.
Yet as Karen Robbins demonstrates in the first
modern biography of McHenry, Adams was mistaken; the friendship between McHenry
and Hamilton that Adams feared had grown sensitive and there was a brief
falling out. Moreover, McHenry had asked Hamilton to withdraw his application
for second-in-command of the New Army being raised. Nonetheless, Adams’s
misperception ended McHenry’s career, and he has remained an obscure historical
figure ever since—until now. James McHenry, Forgotten Federalist reveals
a man surrounded by important events who reflected the larger themes of his
time.
Karen E. Robbins is an associate professor of
history at Saint Bonaventure University. She received her PhD from Columbia
University and is the recipient of two grants from the New York Council for the
Humanities to commemorate the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
TO ORDER Phone - 800-266-5842 Fax -
706-425-3061 E-mail - books@ugapress.uga.edu
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