‘The Birthplace of America’ - “Here He Lyes”
Jill Lepore writes about “ a little island in North America that would one day be known as the birthplace of the United States: Jamestown, Virginia.” Historians, counting Captain Smith, utilize the rhetorical ‘birthplace’ to designate Jamestown’s active input in America’s conception.
“Ragged Paper Jamming a Printing Press” - “The Way to Wealth”
Jill Lepore elucidates, “2 on April 4, 1757, Franklin left Philadelphia by carriage, and reached New York just four days later, ready to sail for London. But one delay piled upon another, like so much ragged paper jamming a printing press, and he found himself stuck in the city for more than two months.” The metaphor of a “jamming press” signifies the obligatory undertakings that Franklin was engaged in which stalled him from embarking on the sailing punctually. The metaphor portrays Franklin as a hectic individual who did not expend his time lazing.
