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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 43
Page 3
... young nation , few escaped the ferocious attacks that lurked in every newspaper and anonymous pamphlet . The architects of the Revolution - Thomas Paine , Jefferson , John Adams , and even Benjamin Franklin — had armies of detractors ...
... young nation , few escaped the ferocious attacks that lurked in every newspaper and anonymous pamphlet . The architects of the Revolution - Thomas Paine , Jefferson , John Adams , and even Benjamin Franklin — had armies of detractors ...
Page 10
... young couple “ got a liscense of Doctor Mawason who had Blanks [ to dispose of ] from the Govr . " The couple had ... young couple was defiant . In Groton Township , far from Abigail's Long Island family , the newest Ledyards would be ...
... young couple “ got a liscense of Doctor Mawason who had Blanks [ to dispose of ] from the Govr . " The couple had ... young couple was defiant . In Groton Township , far from Abigail's Long Island family , the newest Ledyards would be ...
Page 13
... Young John would not , however , be around to watch his siblings grow , for he had undertaken his first great journey . Shortly after Captain John's death , Abigail sent her eldest son to live with Squire John in Hartford . Ledyard ...
... Young John would not , however , be around to watch his siblings grow , for he had undertaken his first great journey . Shortly after Captain John's death , Abigail sent her eldest son to live with Squire John in Hartford . Ledyard ...
Page 14
... young John Ledyard . There he would be the namesake of one of the town's leading men . 1771 , From the day Squire John arrived in the colonies until his death in he deliberately and shrewdly climbed the colonial social ladder . From an ...
... young John Ledyard . There he would be the namesake of one of the town's leading men . 1771 , From the day Squire John arrived in the colonies until his death in he deliberately and shrewdly climbed the colonial social ladder . From an ...
Page 16
... young John to some of the classics in those languages, works he had been required to study during his years as a student at Yale College. Whitman would have memorized passages from Horace, Cicero, and Virgil. He would also have ...
... young John to some of the classics in those languages, works he had been required to study during his years as a student at Yale College. Whitman would have memorized passages from Horace, Cicero, and Virgil. He would also have ...
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 |
Other editions - View all
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