![]() ![]() The American Ideal is a set of ideas associated with the American War for Independence and expressed in the charter of the Northwest Territory, including civil and religious liberty, legal rights (i.e. What does McCullough mean by the “American Ideal?” Although the settlers are heroic in overcoming weather, rugged terrain, and insecurity, building not only farms and homes but a robust civil society from scratch, that is not the “ideal” McCullough is talking about. Like McCullough’s other books, this one depicts both national-level currents as well as the colorful personalities involved on the ground, from Revolutionary War General Rufus Putnam-arguably the patriarch in Ohio at the outset-to the treasonous Aaron Burr, and many others. ![]() In his book, subtitled, The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West, McCullough narrates the early settlement of the Northwest Territory (today’s Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and part of Minnesota) by Revolutionary War veterans and those who followed them. What caught my attention though was McCullough’s numerous references to religious liberty. ![]() David McCullough’s latest book, The Pioneers (Simon & Schuster), is a 2019 best-seller that has been reviewed in major publications from the New York Times to the Claremont Review of Books. ![]()
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