The Alchemy of America: Liberty Tree: 2

The 250th anniversary of American independence provides a powerful moment to reflect on the Founders' wisdom. The Alchemy of America - the redemption of the Union - requires that we reconcile our national virtues and vices. These pages offer an origin story of the United States faithful to both the founding generation and our modern perspective, highlighting the perennial intellectual and spiritual principles beneath the historic deeds. A standalone work, this is also the second volume in a roughly chronological series and picks up where the first volume left off, before the founding of Jamestown in 1607. That volume, Multicultural Roots, identified and analyzed key precolonial cultural elements that informed the Founders as they created the United States, including Haudenosaunee democracy, Greek philosophy, Roman civilization, British jurisprudence, the Abrahamic religions and Hermeticism. This work focuses on the period spanning approximately 1607-1800. Chapter 1, "The Thirteen Colonies", examines the unique localities that came to form the United States, with emphasis on economic, political, religious and social issues which gave each its distinctive culture, including relations with Native Americans and enslavement of Africans. Chapter 2, "Sapere Aude" - Latin for "Dare to Know", a "motto of enlightenment" - looks at the Europeans who drove the intellectual life of the age which inspired America's Founders. Chapter 3, "Franklin & The Founders' Freemasonry", looks at the pre-Revolution years of Ben Franklin and the history of the secret society which counted so many Founders as 'brothers'. Chapter 4, "The Sons & Daughters of Liberty", explores lives of the liberty-loving men and women who thrived in the colonies during the 1760s and 70s, priming others for a revolution. Chapter 5, "The American Crisis", delves into the war for independence itself, paying attention to the individuals, battles and documents that defined it. The volume concludes with Chapter 6, "The Age of Reason", detailing the formulation of the U.S. Constitution, the role of the Founders in the French Revolution, the rise of industrialism and the evolution of early American politics.

Pages: 400, Paperback, Starhaven Press