Footnote’s “Rev War” Collection
Jan 6th, 2008 by sharbrough
George Washington Letters to Secretaries of State
Link to Footnote’s Description: George Washington’s Correspondence
Size Factor. Herein are found 1,030 pages. You could read it over your morning coffee.
Interesting spotlight. Jefferson’s Resignation. Wherein TJ says he hopes to retire to “scenes of greater tranquility.” Lord, let it happen to me too someday.
Cool Factor. If you like seeing Washington’s and Jefferson’s letters related to affairs of state, this is a terrific place to browse.
Department of Disappointments. This title is not yet well described on Footnote. The browse structure is a range of dates, followed by a list of page numbers. It would be terrific if someday the reader could see the date, writer, recipient, and subject of each letter. For now, it’s somewhat of an online-microfilm browsing experience. For 1000 pages, that’s not such a negative that I’d feel obligated to throw a hissy fit in the next meeting I attend at the office.
Continental Congress (both “Papers” and “Miscellaneous Papers”)
Link to Footnote’s Description: Papers of the Continental Congress.
Size Factor. About 180,000 pages, altogether. You’ll need several sleepless nights to get through it all.
Interesting spotlight. Ambassador Thomas Jefferson reports on the French Revolution [link]. Jefferson is the father of two revolutions, some say.
Cool Factor. Tim Agazio, writing on his Genealogy Reviews blog, spent a morning reading letters from Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. “What hit me over the head for both of these men is how well they wrote. Now these are letters. I would understand their formal writing would be good after editing and many revisions, but one usually doesn’t do that with letters. Not only did they write well, but their thinking, as expressed in these letters, was so incisive and clear. It’s obvious while reading these documents you are eavesdropping on the thoughts of genius.” Amen, Tim!
Department of Disappointments. This title has one of the better browses – if you don’t know what is in it, you can still poke around. Some of the browse titles are too long – they truncate on the screen. That seems like a piddling complaint, I take it back. Besides, I might be the goofball who did it.
Constitutional Convention
In the summer of 1787, some of the brightest guys you ever saw were assembled in Philadelphia. They addressed the shortcomings of the state founded on the Articles of Confederation. The convention was chaired by retired General George Washington. Ben Franklin was in his 80s. It’s an amazing story of social experiment.
Link to Footnote’s Description: Records of the Constitutional Convention.
Size Factor. Just shy of 7000 pages. Stimulating reading.
Interesting spotlight. Washington’s notes on the first draft of the US Constitution [link].
Cool Factor. The first printed draft of the US Constitution, with George Washington’s handwritten notes in the margins. Is there anything cooler? [link]
Department of Disappointments. This one is easy to read, and easy to search. If I am disappointed about anything related to it, it’s the lack of initial spotlighting and annotating by readers. This is an important title, and it feels like people aren’t making the time to rediscover it.
[...] Elsewhere on this site you can find a description of the meeting where this topic was first discussed. It’s a story worth repeating because in my view, it was a fortunate accident. [link] [...]