13 Quotes & Sayings By John Ferling

John Ferling is the author of several books about the American Revolution, including John Adams and the Revolution; John Adams and the Politics of War; and John Adams and the Constitution. He has also written on Benjamin Franklin. A graduate of Yale University, Ferling is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He taught at Bryn Mawr College for twenty-two years, wrote The Philadelphia Campaign: Beginnings of Victory, 1775-1778 (1990) and The Philadelphia Campaign: Brandywine to Paoli (1997), both published by Southern Illinois University Press, and is currently writing his first book about Alexander Hamilton.

Jefferson was the rare student who came to college already...
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Jefferson was the rare student who came to college already knowing that there could be joy in studying. John Ferling
Jefferson attributes to a college professor and mentor his lifelong...
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Jefferson attributes to a college professor and mentor his lifelong habit of questioning conventional wisdom. John Ferling
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The feelings of politicians are rarely transparent. John Ferling
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The author characterizes Hamilton's tone in the Federalist papers by saying that he never spoke of problems but of being at the last stage in the crisis. John Ferling
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For leaders, wars are filled with guesses. John Ferling
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Jefferson determined the lodestar that lay hidden in the motivations of others John Ferling
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Alexander Hamilton reflected as early as the middle of the Revolutionary War that rallying at the last minute was part of the national character of his countrymen. John Ferling
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Established churches not infrequently formed an alliance with the aristocracy , joining arm in arm against change. John Ferling
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Wanting to change only the British position at the top of the American social structure, John Adams feared that a "rage for innovation" would consume what was worthwhile about American culture. John Ferling
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Were people to mingle only with those of like mind, every man would be an insulate being." Thomas Jefferson John Ferling
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The author distinguishes George Washington's leadership from that of another aristocratic general whose temperament was somewhat cold. Unlike him, Washington made the effort to at least appear to suffer with his troops. John Ferling
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Pointing out the possible, and expensive, entanglements that could come with widespread commercial enterprise, the author calculates the Great Britain was at war half the time between 1689 and 1783. John Ferling