In a letter to his wife Abigail, John Adams judged the author of Common Sense as having āa better hand at pulling down than building.ā Adamsās dismissive remark has helped shape the prevailing view of Tom Paine ever since. But, as Edward G. Gray shows in this fresh, illuminating work, Paine was a builder. He had a clear vision of success for his adopted country. It was embodied in an architectural project that he spent a decade planning: an iron bridge to span the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia.
When Paine arrived in Philadelphia from England in 1774, the city was thriving as Americaās largest port. But the seasonal dangers of the rivers dividing the region were becoming an obstacle to the cityās continued growth. Philadelphia needed a practical connection between the rich grain of Pennsylvaniaās backcountry farms and its port on the Delaware. The iron bridge was Paineās solution.
The bridge was part of Paineās answer to the central political challenge of the new nation: how to sustain a republic as large and as geographically fragmented as the United States. The iron construction was Paineās brilliant response to the age-old challenge of bridge technology: how to build a structure strong enough to withstand the constant battering of water, ice, and wind.
The convergence of political and technological design in Paineās plan was Enlightenment genius. And Paine drew other giants of the period as patrons: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and for a time his great ideological opponent, Edmund Burke. Paineās dream ultimately was a casualty of the vicious political crosscurrents of revolution and the American penchant for bridges of cheap, plentiful wood. But his innovative iron design became the model for bridge construction in Britain as it led the world into the industrial revolution.
This book title, Tom Paine's Iron Bridge (Building a United States), ISBN: 9780393241785, by Edward G. Gray, published by W. W. Norton & Company (April 25, 2016) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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