The Making of John Ledyard: Empire and Ambition in the Life of an Early American TravelerYale University Press, 1. okt 2008 - 224 pages During the course of his short but extraordinary life, John Ledyard (1751–1789) came in contact with some of the most remarkable figures of his era: the British explorer Captain James Cook, American financier Robert Morris, Revolutionary naval commander John Paul Jones, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and others. Ledyard lived and traveled in remarkable places as well, journeying from the New England backcountry to Tahiti, Hawaii, the American Northwest coast, Alaska, and the Russian Far East. In this engaging biography, the historian Edward Gray offers not only a full account of Ledyard’s eventful life but also an illuminating view of the late eighteenth-century world in which he lived. Ledyard was both a product of empire and an agent in its creation, Gray shows, and through this adventurer’s life it is possible to discern the many ways empire shaped the lives of nations, peoples, and individuals in the era of the American Revolution, the world’s first modern revolt against empire. |
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Page 6
... marine corporal aboard the Resolution. While sailing with Cook, he had been astonished by the po- tential profits of the northwest coast fur trade. Upon returning to the new United States in 1783, he thus embarked on an ambitious ...
... marine corporal aboard the Resolution. While sailing with Cook, he had been astonished by the po- tential profits of the northwest coast fur trade. Upon returning to the new United States in 1783, he thus embarked on an ambitious ...
Page 41
... marines would soon be heading to America . As the scope of the war grew , however , many of them would end up in the colonies . After he transferred to the marine barracks at Plymouth , another stroke of good fortune came Ledyard's way ...
... marines would soon be heading to America . As the scope of the war grew , however , many of them would end up in the colonies . After he transferred to the marine barracks at Plymouth , another stroke of good fortune came Ledyard's way ...
Page 43
... marines was modest in number ( larger ships routinely sailed with crews double or triple that size ) . But what it lacked in stature , it made up for in other ways . Having already been around the world with Cook , the Resolution had ...
... marines was modest in number ( larger ships routinely sailed with crews double or triple that size ) . But what it lacked in stature , it made up for in other ways . Having already been around the world with Cook , the Resolution had ...
Page 47
... marines and enlisted men , they were voluminous . For the most part " the people , " as Cook referred to his crew , received no individual recognition in his journals unless they had died or had somehow failed in their duties . Indeed ...
... marines and enlisted men , they were voluminous . For the most part " the people , " as Cook referred to his crew , received no individual recognition in his journals unless they had died or had somehow failed in their duties . Indeed ...
Page 50
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Contents
1 | |
9 | |
23 | |
43 | |
IV Seeking Distinction with the Pen Aboard the Resolution | 69 |
V Following the Revolution Home | 83 |
VI From Author to Fur Trader | 101 |
VII Becoming a Traveler in Thomas Jeffersons Paris | 124 |
VIII Across the Russian Empire | 136 |
IX Despotism and Human Nature in Catherine IIs Russia | 153 |
X To Africa | 170 |
Memories of the Traveler | 186 |
Notes | 195 |
Index | 217 |
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The Making of John Ledyard: Empire and Ambition in the Life of an Early ... Edward G. Gray No preview available - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
Abigail aboard the Resolution Africa African Association appeared Banks Beaufoy Britain British Captain John Catherine chap character China colonial command Connecticut River Cook’s Cook's Last Voyage crew Dartmouth College death despotism Discovery eighteenth-century Eleazar Wheelock elite Empress England ethnic European expedition explained French frontier fur trade Hartford Hawaiian History human Ibid imperial Imperial Russia Irkutsk Islands Jared Sparks JCJC John Ledyard John Ledyard's Journey John Paul Jones Jones journal labor land letter Library London luxury marines merchants military moral Munford native nature naval navy never North America North Pacific northwest coast officers Pacific Ocean Palais Paris patrons perhaps political reprint returned revolutionary Russian Empire Russian Far East seemed Shelikov ships Siberia simply slavery slaves social Society South Squire John suggested Syphax Tahitian tattooed Thomas Jefferson tion Unalaska vessels Watrous West Whitman William writing Yakutsk yard York young