Manasseh Cutler, citing obligations at home, declined to join the settlers, but his 19-year-old son, Jervis, did. Not long after, the first pioneers set out to the new territory. The resulting ordinance, McCullough writes, "stands alongside the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence as a bold assertion of the rights of the individual." The anti-slavery language in the ordinance had been far from a sure thing, and Cutler had lobbied hard for its inclusion. The Pioneers begins with the story of a man named Manasseh Cutler, a New England pastor who played a key role in the passage of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which created the Northwest Territory and prohibited slavery anywhere within it.
It's a fascinating look at a chapter in American history that's been somewhat neglected in the country's popular imagination. That's the case with his latest book, The Pioneers, which tells the story of the 17th- and 18th-century settlers who set out to start lives in the Northwest Territory, the region of the country that is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and much of the Upper Midwest. Occasionally, though, he delves into the lives of historically significant people whose names likely aren't familiar to most Americans.
Truman, John Adams and the Wright Brothers have all been subjects of his meticulously researched volumes. How?ĭavid McCullough is best known to most readers for his popular biographies of some of the most prominent names in American history - Theodore Roosevelt, Harry S. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Pioneers Subtitle The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West Author David McCullough
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