American Aurora: The Supressed History of Our Nation's Beginnings and the Heroic Newspaper That Tried to Report It [Paperback]

Richard Rosenfeld (Author), Edmund S. Morgan (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

An absorbing story of the Philadelphia Aurora, the nation's leading oppositional newspaper, in print from 1790-1800, cites how its two primary editors claimed that George Washington was a ineffectual commander-in-chief and that John Adams wanted to be King, and the fall-out that followed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Federalist accounts of U.S. history are like fluoride in the water: no strong taste or odor, its something you grow up ingesting in order to strengthen the civic faith of America's citizens. But forget about Valley Forge, "I can not tell a lie," and all the other federalist propaganda you soaked up in civics class and consider for a moment that George Washington was a bald-faced liar and a poor military leader, that Benjamin Franklin was the true "father of his country" who fought with crypto-monarchists Alexander Hamilton and John Adams to preserve republican institutions, and that the Constitution drafted in 1787 was a sorry compromise of the revolution's ideals and an inadequate basis for republican government.

All these heresies and more are vigorously argued and defended in Richard N. Rosenfeld's revisionist account of America's revolutionary history American Aurora. Rosenfeld recounts the controversies surrounding constitutional debates and the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 through the pages of The Philadelphia Aurora, a radical newspaper of the 1790s. Packed with original source material and plenty of footnotes, Rosenfeld's history is contentious--even inciteful--and it demonstrates the rich textual history of the United States both in terms of the newspapers he draws from and the story he tells in this expansive narrative history.

From Library Journal

Contemporary Americans longing for a return to civility in public life will be quite amazed when they read the press accounts of the early years of the Republic. Independent scholar Rosenfeld, in an innovative approach to the historical record, uses daily clips from Philadelphia newspapers to portray the early struggles over civil liberties. The Aurora, edited first by Benjamin Bache, grandson of Benjamin Franklin, and then by William Duane, led the fight for greater freedoms. Competitor papers, The Porcupine's Gazette and Gazette of the United States, advocated greater government powers. The arguments between the different factions, including editors and politicians, were heated, vituperative, and sometimes physical. In addition to press accounts, letters from leading figures of the time and the Annals of Congress are quoted. Rosenfeld creates a fictional voice for editor Duane, who tells the story in the present tense and provides context for the original source material. A remarkable and innovative work of history that belongs in most libraries.?Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ., Washington D.C.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 988 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1 edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312150520
• ISBN-13: 978-0312150525
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #697,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye-opening political thriller..., September 8, 2004

By 

ewomack "ewomack" (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: American Aurora: A Democratic-Republican Returns; The Suppressed History of Our Nation's Beginnings and the Heroic Newspaper That Tried to Report It (Paperback)

Can historical source material make for an exciting and engaging read? This book answers that question in the extreme affirmative. It contains documents mainly from the 18th century, but it reads like a political thriller. It also provides valuable peeks into the formation of the United States as we know it today. Magma hot controversy surrounded that formation. The press on all sides fervently spewed accusations that seem nearly heretical even today. Did John Adams want to be king? Was George Washington a bumbling and incompetent general? Did the French win the revolution for us, thanks to the diplomatic powers of Benjamin Franklin? Was Thomas Jefferson an atheistical French sympathizer? In light of these claims, Who is really the "father of our country?" Many unconventional opinions see light in this book. Some cherished political figures get shredded to bits, sometimes by their own words and sometimes by the words of others. In the end, no one is safe from abuse. Not even Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. Shocking claims await on almost every page.

The drama begins in the city of Philadelphia in 1798. At this time it served as the capital for the very young United States (the government moved to Washington in 1800). John Adams holds the presidency. George Washington still has a year to live. Benjamin Franklin has been dead for eight years. His grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache runs a newspaper called the Aurora General Advertiser (or just "The Aurora"). For reporting on certain congressmen's less than professional behavior (spitting, insults, etc), congress bars the paper from the floor of both houses. The Aurora gets shoved into the balconies of congress, far above the whispers of congressman that Bache so often reported on without approval from the House Speaker. Congress marks the Aurora as a troublemaker. This begins the first section of the book, where the Aurora accuses president Adams of wanting to be king of the United States. More than mere conjecture or metaphor spurned this accusation. Adams presented his idea of "titles" to Congress on May 9, 1789. He suggested a verbose title for the president: "His Highness, the President of the United States of America and Protector of the Rights of the Same." Along with this, he proposed that the president and all senators should hold their offices for life. These ideas deeply disturbed Bache, and the exposure of Adams' goals became a predominant goal of his paper. In addition, Bache accused the Adams administration of purposefully alienating France. The Aurora and other news sources of 1789 reported on the terrifying prospect of a French invasion of the United States. It never happened, and Bache yelled foul from his printing press. The more he yelled the more the Adams administration responded. The Sedition Act, supposedly created to silence the Aurora, came before Congress and passed in 1789. On top of that the the Alien Bill also passed, which enabled the president to deport any illegal alien without trial. Bache argued the unconstitutionality of both Acts. The inevitable arrest came soon after. Bache posted bail for trial for indictment under the Sedition Act. The yellow fever epidemic of the same year altered the proceedings. Other arrests and trials of newspaper editors continued. Many were convicted, spent time in prison, and paid heavy fines.

Part Two of the book goes back in time to before the American Revolution. This section will raise the most eyebrows. It begins with an accusation that George Washington started the French Indian War of 1756. The section goes on to argue that Washington bungled the Revolutionary war so badly that Benjamin Franklin had to go to France and beg for help. Surprising letters from Washington's Generals and other government officials dot the entire section. Other revelations include Alexander Hamilton's avowal that monarchy best suits the new constitution's checks and balances, Adams' ideas behind a two house legislature, Benjamin Franklin's support of a unicameral legislature, and the alleged flouting of the French Treaty of 1778 under the Washington administration. Washington in particular fares badly in this section.

The Third and final section returns to 1798. William Duane now heads up the Aurora (you can guess what happened). He continues the fight against the Adams administration's policies, particularly in the critical election year of 1800. The government arrests Duane under the Sedition Act, and even the United States Senate arrests Duane for "breach of privilege". Duane spends much of this section in hiding. This section also sheds some light on the origins of the Second Amendment concerning the subject of standing armies. Much, much more gets coverage in this section. Far too much to summarize here, but the election of 1800 (Adams vs. Jefferson) receives more than ample coverage.

Throughout, the reader gets more perspectives than just the Aurora's. The Federalists (Adams' party) also get plenty of space. Numerous passages from the Gazette of the United States and Porcupine's Gazette (both Federalist papers of Philadelphia) provide vitriolic responses to Bache's and Duane's Democratic-Republican claims. Candor was not something practiced by the press of the time. Articles sometimes resulted in personal assaults on editors with opposing papers cheering on the abusers. Rough times indeed.

Though the book provides many perspectives, the book mainly argues that Bache and Duane's Aurora saved the United States from monarchy (even Thomas Jefferson made this claim in 1823), and that freedom of the press provided the means. The book takes a decidedly anti-Federalist stance.

Engaging and powerful, this book will provide at least another perspective on the founding of the United States and its major personalities. It accomplishes this mostly through excerpts from newspapers, The Annals of Congress, and personal letters of the time (the book contains over 2000 direct citations). At times it feels close to time travel. A long and arduous but ultimately extremely rewarding read.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will transform the way you think about early America, May 12, 2000

By 

"lily_d" - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Aurora: The Supressed History of Our Nation's Beginnings and the Heroic Newspaper That Tried to Report It (Paperback)

This book was controversial in the historical community, in large part because of the author's decision to adopt the voice of William Duane as the book's "narrator." While Rosenfeld's interventions in Duane's voice are distracting and grating, ultimately they comprise only a tiny fraction of the book's ample content. The rest of the book offers a fascinanting exegesis into the character and climate of political and public life in the early republic. Critics who take aim at Rosenfeld's lack of objectivity (as a consequence of his adoption of Duane's voice) only end up revealing their own biases. Rosenfeld clearly has a stake in the story he wants to tell, but any scholar who invests time in a major research endeavor shares that position. Rosenfeld merely lays his cards on the table, without maintaining a pretense of objectivity. His argument is all the more compelling in that its constructed on a foundation almost exclusively built out of primary source materials. After reading this book, you will not necessarily be compelled that Washington was a murderer (to cite one minor example), but you will no longer be able to imagine that the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-centuries were eras of enlightened, rational thinking.

This book is an engaging, illuminating read and the treasure trove of primary materials provided by the author offers readers the opportunity to draw their own conclusions about specific incidents and debates. At the same time, it leaves little room to hold onto myths about the nature of political and print culture in the so-called Age of Enlightenment.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Open this book and step in to the past, January 30, 2000

By 

Charles Hobson - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Aurora: A Democratic-Republican Returns; The Suppressed History of Our Nation's Beginnings and the Heroic Newspaper That Tried to Report It (Paperback)

Reading this masterpiece is what I imagine it must have been like to discover Tutankahmen's tomb. Every chapter is a new discovery; every letter and newspaper article and pamphlet extract is a jewel in an incredible mosaic of early American history that you have never seen before. With an original and effective use of primary sources Rosenfeld has created a stunning portrait of the struggle to create and sustain our republic. I found the book immensely readable and, especially in the depiction of the halting and, at times, incompetent prosecution of the war with Great Britain, almost impossible to put down. My highest recommendation.