Title: American scripture
First published: 1997
Description: Pauline Maier shows us the Declaration as both the defining statement of our national identity and the moral standard by which we live as a nation. It is truly "American Scripture," and Maier tells us how it came to be - from the Declaration's birth in the hard and tortuous struggle by which Americans arrived at Independence to the ways in which, in the nineteenth century, the document itself became sanctified.

Maier describes the transformation of the Second Continental Congress into a national government, unlike anything that preceded or followed it, and with more authority than the colonists would ever have conceded to the British Parliament; the great difficulty in making the decision for Independence; the influence of Paine's Common Sense, which shifted the terms of debate; and the political maneuvers that allowed Congress to make the momentous decision.
Subjects: Politics and government, United States, United states, declaration of independence, United states, politics and government, 1775-1783, United states., History, 18th century, History, 18th century--united states, E221 .m24 1997, E221 m217a 1997, 973.3/13
Places: United States
Time periods: 1775-1783
LC classification: E221 .M24 1997