Richard R. Beeman

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard R. Beeman (born 1942 in Seattle , Washington , † September 5, 2016 ) was an American historian . His research focus was on the history of the United States on the colonial era and the young republic .

Life

Beeman grew up in Long Beach , California . He studied at the University of California, Berkeley , where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1964 . He then continued his studies at the College of William and Mary , where he received a Master of Arts in 1965 . In 1968 he received his Ph.D. from Daniel Boorstin at the University of Chicago.

Beeman spent his entire academic career at the University of Pennsylvania , where he researched and taught for 43 years, most recently as the John Welsch Centennial Professor of History . During this time he was, among other things, chairman of the Department of History , and then Associate Dean and Undergraduate Dean of the University's College of Arts and Sciences .

In the late 1980s, Beeman played a major role in the planning of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia . After the National Constitution Center opened in 2000, he was a member of its Board of Trustees .

In 2003 he was Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Visiting Professors of American History at the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University . He was also a Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities , the Rockefeller Foundation and the Huntington Library . His book Plain Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution won the 2010 George Washington Book Prize .

Beeman, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , died of the disease in September 2016 at the age of 74. He was married twice and had two children, a son and a daughter.

Publications (selection)

  • The Old Dominion and the New Nation, 1788-1801 (1972)
  • Patrick Henry: A Biography (1974)
  • Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity (1987)
  • The Evolution of the Southern Backcountry: A Case Study of Lunenburg County, Virginia, 1746-1832 (1989)
  • The Varieties of Political Experience in Eighteenth-Century America (2004)
  • The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution: A Fully Annotated Declaration of Independence, US Constitution and Amendments, and Selections from the Federalist Papers (2010)
  • Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution (2010)
  • Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor: Americans Choose Independence (2013)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Visiting Professor of American History , website of the Rothermere American Institute
  2. ^ Former winners of the George Washington Book Prize , Washington College website
personal data
SURNAME Beeman, Richard R.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American historian
DATE OF BIRTH 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Seattle , Washington
DATE OF DEATH 5th September 2016