by Ron Carter
He paused to gather his thoughts. “I think that’s about all for now. I hope that I’ve done what I should have after you left us. No one could really take your place at the head of the family, but I tried.”
He stood. “Anyway, I thought I should come tell you how it all came out. We finished the war and we won it. We have a new land, a new constitution, a new government, and I believe now the fight is going to be to keep it. The fight between good and evil. A shooting war comes and it goes, but the war between the good and the bad—it never ends. I promise I’ll do all I can to keep what you fought for, Father. What you died for. I promise.”
He did not know what else to say, so he turned and started away. A faint breeze stirred in the darkness, and he stopped to look back for a moment, then he smiled, and turned back toward home, Kathleen, and the children.
Note
The characters depicted in this chapter are fictitious but represent the common American people of that generation, to whom we owe so much.
Bibliography
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Bernstein, Richard B. Are We to Be a Nation? The Making of the Constitution. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987.
Compton’s Encyclopedia. 26 vols. Edited by University of Chicago. Chicago: F. E. Compton Company, 1974.
Conely, Patrick T., and John P. Kaminski, eds. The Constitution and the States. Madison, Wis.: Madison House, 1988.
Cooke, Jacob E., ed. The Federalist. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1961.
Earle, Alice Morse. Home Life in Colonial Days. Stockbridge, Mass.: Berkshire House Publishers, 1992.
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Moyers, Bill. Moyers: Report from Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention of 1787. New York: Ballantine Books, 1987.
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Outhwaite, Leonard. The Atlantic: A History of an Ocean. New York: Coward-McCann, 1957.
Pawson, Michael, and David Buisseret. Port Royal, Jamaica. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.
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Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785–1812. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.
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Special Acknowledgments
Dr. Richard B. Bernstein of Brooklyn, New York, with his internationally recognized expertise in the history of the Revolutionary War time period, has been indispensable in the writing of this work. Over the past seven years, he has read every word of all eight volumes, made endless corrections to preserve the historical integrity of the story, and been available at all times, day and night, when needed. He is a rare person, a monumental historian, and a trusted friend.
Harriet S. Abels, distinguished author and noted educator, graciously accepted this writer as a student more than fifteen years ago. She performed the work of a master in making something from almost nothing. She has faithfully read, edited, rearranged, and corrected every manuscript of this series of books, and in the process has proven to be a great soul, dedicated to her work, and has become a lifelong friend.
Without the contributions of these two, this work would never have been completed.