The Making of the American Dream, An Unconventional History, Volume 2

An unconventional history is one that challenges some of the myths scholars have employed to explain our past. In these two volumes Kaplan shows that every war in US history was waged either over the issue of land or for its acquisition. Ironically, until our independence from Great Britain, all the lands occupied by the 13 colonies were legally the property of the King, granted under royal charters which precluded outright ownership. Jefferson understood this salient fact, and when he wrote the preamble to the Declaration of Independence he omitted property as one of the inalienable rights endowed by the Creator, substituting instead the euphemism of the pursuit of happiness.