A Republic of Scoundrels: The Schemers, Intriguers & Adventurers Who Created a New American Nation [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

As new condition cream boards, red spine, and gold spine lettering contained in an as new condition non price-clipped color illustrated dust jacket. Includes Praise for A Republic of Scoundrels; Author Dedication; Note on Quotations; Introduction by Timothy C. Hemmis; Conclusion by David Head; Acknowledgments; Contributors; Note on Sources; Sources and Index. Illustrated with a section of both black-and-white and color photographic plates. "The Founding Fathers are often revered as American saints; here are the stories of those Founders who were schemers and scoundrels, vying for their own interests ahead of the nation's. We now have a clear-eyed understanding of Founding Fathers such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton; even so, they are often considered American saints, revered for their wisdom and self-sacrificing service to the nation. However, within the Founding Generation lurked many unscrupulous figures - men who violated the era's expectation of public virtue and advanced their own interests at the expense of others. They were turncoats and traitors, opportunists and con artists, spies and foreign intriguers. Some of their names are well-known: Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr. Others are less notorious now but were no less threatening. There was Charles Lee, the Continental Army general who offered to tell the British how to defeat the Americans; William Blount, a territorial governor and champion land-swindler who amassed a private empire in Tennessee; and James Wilkinson, who served fifteen years as a commanding general in the U.S. Army - despite rumors that he spied for Spain and conspired with traitors. The early years of the republic were full of self-interested individuals, sometimes succeeding in their plots, sometimes failing, but always shaping the young nation. A Republic of Scoundrels seeks to re-examine the Founding Generation and replace the hagiography of the Founding Fathers with something more realistic: a picture that embraces the many facets of our nation's origins." - from the inner front jacket flap. "The down and dirty side of the American Revolution and its aftermath is revealed in all of its scandalous glory. As much as we like to remember pride and patriotism, sometimes murder, unrest, and espionage lurked just around the corner." - Brady Crytzer, author. "Shines a distinctive light on the first decades of American independence. Illuminates how the same conditions that struck real fear in the hearts of Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison represented alluring opportunities for a different set of men." - James E. Lewis, Jr., author. "A rogues' gallery of the shadiest, most dishonest, self-serving, and duplicitous characters who traipsed across the stage of the early American Republic. These figures helped shape the contours of the Early Republic." - Ricardo A. Herrera, author. "Brings together a motley mix of fascinating, sometimes perplexing, and always entertaining individuals to paint a new portrait of the early American Republic. Their failed schemes, duplicitous acts, and otherwise untoward behavior often proved unexpectedly important to shoring up the country's foundations." - Patrick Spero, Executive Director, George Washington Presidential Library. "A feisty romp through early American history, full of corruption, greed, and misunderstood anti-heroes. Provides an innovative approach to the clashing imperial interests feuding on the borders of the new and emerging United States." - Lindsay M. Chervinsky, author.…