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Disclaimer: This is NOT the same James Baldwin who never published "I Am Not Your Negro." No racial stereotypes were skewered or damaged in the preparation of this manuscript. This is a book about four white guys who made America great (the first time.) Several generations ahead of that other Baldwin.
When George Washington was a boy there was no United States. The land was here, just as it is now, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific; but nearly all of it was wild and unknown. Between the Atlantic Ocean and the Alleghany Mountains there were thirteen colonies, or great settlements. The most of the people who lived in these colonies were English people, or the children of English people; and so the King of England made their laws and appointed their governors. The newest of the colonies was Georgia, which was settled the year after George Washington was born. The oldest colony was Virginia, which had been settled one hundred and twenty-five years. It was also the richest colony, and more people were living in it than in any other.
Benjamin Franklin was not born to greatness. He had none of the advantages which even the poorest boys may now enjoy. But he achieved greatness by always making the best use of such opportunities as came in his way. He was not afraid of work. He did not give up to discouragements. He did not overestimate his own abilities. He was earnest and faithful in little things; and that, after all, is the surest way of attaining to great things. Without his aid the American colonies would hardly have won independence. It was said of him that he knew how to subdue both thunder and tyranny; and a famous orator who knew him well, described him as "the genius that gave freedom to America and shed torrents of light upon Europe." But, at the close of a very long life, the thing which gave him the greatest satisfaction was the fact that he had made no man his enemy; there was no human being who could justly say, "Ben Franklin has wronged me."
One day the man who kept the little store in the village, showed Daniel Webster something that made his heart leap. It was a cotton handkerchief with the Constitution of the United States printed on one side of it. In those days people were talking a great deal about the Constitution, for it had just then come into force. Daniel had never read it. When he saw the handkerchief he could not rest till he had made it his own. He counted all his pennies, he borrowed a few from his brother Ezekiel. Then he hurried back to the store and bought the wished-for treasure. In a short time he knew everything in the Constitution, and could repeat whole sections of it from memory. When he afterwards became one of the great men of this nation, he proved to be the Constitution's wisest friend and ablest defender.
When he was sixteen years old, Abraham Lincoln went one day to Booneville, fifteen miles away, to attend a trial in court. He had never been in court before. He listened with great attention to all that was said. When the lawyer for the defense made his speech, the youth was so full of delight that he could not contain himself. He arose from his seat, walked across the courtroom, and shook hands with the lawyer. "That was the best speech I ever heard," he said. He was tall and very slim; he was dressed in a jeans coat and buckskin trousers; his feet were bare. From that time, one ambition seemed to fill his mind. He wanted to be a lawyer and make great speeches in court. He walked twelve miles barefooted, to borrow a copy of the laws of Indiana. Day and night he read and studied. "Some day I shall be President of the United States," he said to some of his young friends. And this he said not as a joke, but in the firm belief that it would prove to be true.
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- PublisherCreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
- Publication date2017
- ISBN 10 1546415556
- ISBN 13 9781546415558
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages146
- EditorSaunders Richard
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