"Phillip Hamilton has written a concise, gripping study that
depicts how the American Revolution affected an elite southern
family, largely for the worse." -- "Journal of Southern History "
"This excellent study is both eminently readable and
educational, and it is an important contribution to understanding
the dynamics of leadership and of family life in Virginia following
the American Revolution." -- "Virginia Libraries "
"Much more than a family history, this volume adds to our
knowledge of the social, economic, and political landscapes of the
Old Dominion from the late colonial era through the antebellum
period. This book is recommended for those interested in the
history of Virginia, the early republic, the South, and family
history." -- "North Carolina Historical Review "
In 1814, John Randolph of Roanoke brooded over his family's
decline since the American Revolution. The once-sumptuous world of
the Virginia gentry was vanishing, its kinship ties crumbling along
with its mansions. Looking back in an effort to grasp the changes
around him, Randolph fixated on his stepfather and one-time
guardian, the jurist St. George Tucker. Although Tucker had fought
during the Revolution, he grasped the significant changes the war
had brought to the Old Dominion. Thus he sold his plantations and
urged his children to pursue careers in learned professions.
Tucker's stepson John Randolph bitterly disagreed, precipitating a
painful break between the two men.
Drawing upon an extraordinary archive of manuscript materials,
Phillip Hamilton illustrates how two generations of a colorful and
influential family adapted to social upheaval. He finds that the
Tuckers eventually rejected widerfamily connections and turned
instead to nuclear kin. They also abandoned the liberal principles
and enlightened rationalism of the Revolution for a romanticism
girded by deep social conservatism. "The Making and Unmaking of a
Revolutionary Family "reveals the complex process by which the
world of Washington and Jefferson evolved into the antebellum
society of Edmund Ruffin and Thomas Dew.
Phillip Hamilton is Associate Professor of History at
Christopher Newport University.
Jeffersonian America
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