书评-荣誉事务
荣誉事务
乔安妮·弗里曼,荣誉事务:新共和国的国家政治耶鲁大学出版社，2001。376页，注释，参考书目，索引。美国的开国元勋们深受尊敬和敬畏，在历史上通常被视为半神，而且，对于大多数美国人来说，他们几乎不为人知，因为他们有自己的缺点、弱点和个性。他们以人格的力量，冒着生命和财产的危险，以及纯粹的决心，在北美大陆上建立了一个新的国家。在建国近两个半世纪的时间里，这个国家一直试图维护开国元勋们的理想，并且在很大程度上取得了成功。在四年一次的总统大选之后，政权从一届政府到另一届政府的交接是没有暴力的，是美国公民认为理所当然的权力和平过渡。一般来说，在人群中，这一事件被视为他们生活中另一件普通的、意料之中的事件，而不是它实际上是一项重大成就。事情并不总是这样的。不管今天的美国人对国父们的印象如何，他们都不是一群兄弟。事实上，他们脾气暴躁，经常暴力，有时是人类历史上最令人讨厌的一群人。作家兼历史学家乔安妮•弗里曼在她出色的新书《荣誉事务》(Affairs of Honor)中，以全新的视角审视了亚当斯、汉密尔顿和杰斐逊，以及其他勇敢的绅士，无论他们是否出名，他们的政治、抱负和行动，都使新美利坚共和国的政治和其他方面的气氛变得非常有趣，让人生活在一个非常有趣的地方，也让人更感兴趣。缔造新共和国的绅士们来自不同的背景，也来自这个新国家的不同地区。奴隶制有时被憎恶，但被接受。 Brawling took place on the floor of Congress, angry members going at it with cane and fireplace tongs. Challenges were hurled between men now considered statesmen, sometimes ending up with the two antagonists shooting each other in illegal duels. One of Alexander Hamilton's sons, to the everlasting grief of his father, was killed in one such duel three years before his famous father was, unfortunately for the country, shot down by treacherous, unreliable Aaron Burr. Charge and countercharge were leveled between men whose memory is now considered sacrosanct: Adams and Jefferson went at it for years. Both were great men, Adams probably the better President, but both were pilloried in newspaper and broadside by their contemporaries. Both were signers of the Declaration of Independence. The author also tells us of the less than famous that documented their times. Anxious, fearful William Maclay form Pennsylvania worried himself out of congressional office, but wrote about it for posterity. High living Ralph Izard is another personality revealed to us, definitely not a star, but a contributor nonetheless. Interesting, meticulous, and honest William Plumer found papers and records worth keeping strewn carelessly throughout congressional chambers, and just picked them up to save them for posterity. He built the largest private collection of official papers in the country, building a valuable archive, storing it in trunks as his 'Repository.' What this excellent volume does is paint an accurate, interesting picture of what politics, and the personalities, who engaged in those politics, were like in the early years of the Republic. Interestingly, George Washington was sacrosanct. In my opinion, as he should be.
他指挥、组建并领导大陆军，成功地度过了一场历时八年的艰苦战争，成功地发动了第一次殖民地或殖民地集团反对母国的武装起义，确保了母国的独立，他是美国性格的化身(美国宪法第二条，即行政部门的权力，有无数的理由是模仿他的)。也为未来几年的总统生涯定下了基调。攻击华盛顿就是攻击共和国的精髓。然而，每件事，每一个人，都是公平的目标。这本书是强烈推荐给每一个学生的时期。它描绘了一幅精彩的时代图景，对开国元勋进行了接地气的评价。如果你认为今天的政治和政治竞选肮脏、不公平，充满了“诽谤”，那么，用俗语来说，“你什么都没看到”!
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