William Cooper's Town Power And Persuasion

Book Review for William Cooper’s Town In William Cooper’s Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic Alan Taylor argues that the American Revolution was a war that affected many settlements in social and political ways. The expansion of the United States caused many Americans to question the beliefs from the colonial past, and this would cause a shift in the present social order. Various new settlements brought about many struggles over distribution of property and political offices. All of the struggles were the key to define the social disorder that occurred during the post Revolutionary War time period. Taylor proved his thesis valid by using the life of William Cooper. Taylor used Cooper joining the Library

Cooper wanted to become one of “the well-educated gentlemen who dominated the civic, economic, and cultural life of Burlington.” So, he started to teach himself how to read fluently, just so he could become an elite. Cooper went from taking out six volumes in one year to, an averaged, forty-six volumes in eight years. This put him in a position to become one of the most industrious readers in the Library. William started out by reading Political Literature, but he expanded his choices by reading multiple pieces of poetry. An example of a piece of literature is Thomas Birch’s The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain; with their Lives, and Characters. One of Cooper’s favorite poems was Alexander Pope’s translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Cooper read these books to increase his knowledge so he could become smart and well-educated as the elite were in Burlington. He joined the Library Company of Burlington in hope of being able to become like one of the wealthy elites that resided there.
Taylor used William Cooper and Elizabeth Fenimore’s marriage to support his thesis. Cooper married Elizabeth Fenimore and used her parent’s money and social status to jumpstart his life. He potentially became a farmer, shopkeeper, and land speculator, but he really started his life when he bought a piece of land near Otsego Lake. By purchasing this land, Cooper was

Cooper tried to pass on the gentility to his children but they wouldn’t comprehend. This impacted him severely because he knew that if he couldn’t control his own children, his sense of being a well known man would decay. Cooper had lost understanding of being a good father and husband after Hannah, his daughter, died. She was his most favorable child because she was praised by many officials. Hannah also inherited her father’s gentility, and this would come to an advantage for Cooper because she would reflect positively on him. Cooper tried to improve his son’s, William Cooper Jr., life by telling him to take on college at an early start. This was not a good idea but Cooper went along with it anyways. Cooper Jr. started to make poor decisions and got kicked out of Princeton. William Cooper was furious with his son and did not appreciate his behavior that he ensued at Princeton. Later in life, Cooper Jr. designed a platform that would be used by the U.S. Navy, but the device sank and his investment of five thousand dollars was erased and he received the public tease of “Cooper’s Ark” (Taylor, 338). This proved to be his failure in training his children to continue on his legacy of