Mental Maps of the Founders: How Geographic Imagination Guided America's Revolutionary Leaders

Michael Barone, the author of 'The Founding Fathers: Mental Maps of the Founders,' explores the geographic orientation—the mental maps—of six of the Founders. Three were Virginians, one was a refugee from Puritan Boston, and two came from St. Croix and Geneva. These disparate origins informed their foundation and management of a financial and taxation system that enabled the new republics commerce to thrive.

Format: Hardback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 11 January 2024
Publisher: Encounter Books,USA

Michael Barone is the ideal author to pen this significant and contemplative work.

Andrew Roberts, the author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny, The Founding Fathers were distinguished by their exceptional intellect, unwavering integrity, and boundless ambition, yet they did not share a unified vision. Hailing from diverse colonies, each of them pursued their own aspirations for the future, navigating uncharted territories with limited knowledge of the vast expanse surrounding them. Despite lacking reliable maps of even the nearby terrain, they made distinct contributions to the expansion of a young republic on the periphery of a continent they knew little about.

Mental Maps of the Founders delves into the geographical orientation, or mental maps, of six of these influential figures. Three of them hailed from Virginia, each vying to expand their nascent nation in different directions on the compass. One, a refugee from Puritan Boston who found sanctuary in more tolerant Philadelphia, constructed a vast commercial and journalistic empire that extended across the seaboard colonies and the West Indies. Two others hailed from bustling commercial hubs with strikingly different personalities. St. Croix, an island renowned for its sugar production and enslaved populations, stood in stark contrast to the stern Calvinistic city-state of Geneva, where strict religious beliefs and rigorous governance shaped the financial and taxation systems that supported the young republic's thriving commerce.

Motivated by the abundance of captivating books about the Founding Fathers, journalist, map enthusiast, and longstanding co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, Michael Barone embarked on a quest to explore the geographical orientation of the Founders. Through a series of reflective essays, Barone showcases how the mental maps of the Founders played a pivotal role in shaping the contours and character of a young republic whose geographical features and political boundaries were yet to be defined.

By examining the mental maps of these six Founding Fathers, Barone reveals how their diverse origins influenced their foundation and management of a financial and taxation system that facilitated the flourishing of the new republic's commerce. He explores how their perspectives and experiences shaped their understanding of geography, politics, and the interplay between the two, contributing to the development of a nation that would endure and evolve over time.

Through his insightful analysis, Barone sheds light on the complex and multifaceted nature of the Founding Fathers, highlighting their intellectual prowess, moral convictions, and unwavering determination to shape the course of history. Mental Maps of the Founders is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the founding era, offering a fresh perspective on the men who laid the foundation for the United States of America.

Dimension: 228 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781641773515