A History of Hope : When Americans Have Dared to Dream of a Better Future

This book chronicles American history through the stories of the individuals and movements that dreamed of a better future and then took action to make that dream a reality, arguing that the much heralded American spirit was not born as a gift of our founding, but was forged through our adversity and triumphs. From colonial revolutionaries to abolitionists, labor organizers to suffragists, progressives to civil rights activists, it was individuals and movements who dared to go against the American majority that both guarded and created our best national self. So Begins James Fraser in His Chronicle of the indomitable American Spirit that has kept us going even in our country's darkest days. Hope with the ability to see a better future for oneself and others, says Fraser, is the thing that powers the engine of the American Spirit. One of the most famous manifestations of hope in our history is Jefferson's "self evident" truth "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life. Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Hope, though, was never solely the province of leaders. In 1890, a group of impoverished people in New Mexico declared. "Our purpose is to protect the rights and interests of the people in general: especially those of the helpless classes." In the same century, looking toward freedom, the runaway slave Joseph Taper wrote "all are born free and equal." Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Seneca Falls Convention used Jefferson's template to assert the rights of women. In fact, throughout our history hope has been more frequently the enterprise of the agitator, the poet, and the organizer than the work of official leaders. Because of that. James Fraser's history of hope is really a history of the ordinary American who decided that limitations were unacceptable and a better life could be attained through hard work and determination. In these uncertain times, Fraser's look at the American ability to see through hardship and tragedy is more necessary than ever. Front Matter....Pages i-xx Prologue: The First Revolution: Taos, 1680....Pages 1-9 The Revolutionaries of 1776....Pages 11-25 Utopian Communities....Pages 27-41 Mexico in the United States....Pages 43-65 Rebellious Slaves, Free Blacks, and Abolitionists....Pages 67-92 Reconstruction: The First Civil Rights Era....Pages 93-119 Feminists and Suffragists....Pages 121-149 The Beginnings of Organized Labor....Pages 151-183 The Many Faces of the Progressive Era....Pages 185-213 Hope in Hard Times....Pages 215-248 The Civil Rights Movement....Pages 249-284 Epilogue: The Movement Continues....Pages 285-306 Back Matter....Pages 307-348 Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Foreword 12 Prologue: The First Revolution: Taos, 1680 22 1. The Revolutionaries of 1776 31 2. Utopian Communities 46 3. Mexico in the United States 61 4. Rebellious Slaves, Free Blacks, and Abolitionists 84 5. Reconstruction: The First Civil Rights Era 110 6. Feminists and Suffragists 151 7. The Beginnings of Organized Labor 180 8. The Many Faces of the Progressive Era 213 9. Hope in Hard Times 242 10. The Civil Rights Movement 276 Epilogue: The Movement Continues 312 Notes 334 Bibliography 361 Index 366 About the Author 375 ON A BEAUTIFUL FRIDAY MORNING in Philadelphia, June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, a delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia, concluded his speech to the assembly with a motion: Resolved . . . that these United Colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.