This is part seven of a 10-part series of reflections on Eric Sloane’s book on the bicentennial, “The Spirits of ’76.” Each chapter covers a different spirit of America.
It’s impossible to speak of U.S. history without reference to the life of the farmer and the land. The experience shaped many generations. It formed the basis for the belief in freedom itself, the conviction that a family can provide for itself through hard work and defend its rights based on the little slice of physical land that the family controls.
