Silas Deane Chapter Summary

This chapter differentiated what history is from what people view history as by delving into the mystery shrouding the death of Silas Deane and establishing the ways historians can use evidence to support arguments. The authors’ thesis was that Silas Deane’s death is an example of why history is not a recollection of the past but also the reconstruction and analysis of events. The first key point the authors made is that history cannot be fully understood by knowing the presented events. The chapter proceeded to introduce Silas Deane’s story; he was a blacksmith’s son who later pursued politics, gaining a reputation for being ambitious. However, he became entangled in controversies and finally moved to England. His friend, Bancroft, sometimes

For instance, rumors arose that his death was a suicide through poison. Through these discrepancies, the authors pointed out that history is not a collection of data but the “act of selecting, analyzing, and writing about the past” (xxi). They introduced ways to do so, like selecting the best evidence and piecing them together to form cohesive arguments. Using those methods, they assessed that Deane had enthusiastic plans for the future and genuinely believed the controversy had died down, so they assumed that his death was not a suicide. The authors moved on to Bancroft, who was a bright man and worked alongside Deane as a private secretary when needed in France and the two established their own private trade. They also gamboled. However, it was decades later when historians discovered that Bancroft was a double agent for the British. It was likely that Deane knew of

This was contrasted against the records of pedestrian clerks, which revealed more knowledge when it is deeply analyzed. With this approach it was possible to create an idea of Virginian society during the early colonial years. Despite the predictions of several Englishmen, colonizing Virginia was incredibly difficult- many died at sea and the location for the colony was unhealthy and resulted in the death of over forty more people. Conditions only worsened in the winter. Until the arrival of Sandys a decade later, Jamestown was poor and barely populated. Sandys helped make the colony successful by offering property and land grants to attract investors for the Virginia Company and new settlers, introducing private property to Virginia. Additionally, Sandys and his friends made the colony a better place to live by setting laws in place and avoiding heavy taxes by providing land to pay off officials’