The Pox and the Covenant

By Tony Williams

Subjects: Mather, cotton, 1663-1728, Franklin, benjamin, 1706-1790, Boston (mass.), social conditions, Smallpox

Description: A covenant of life and death. For 100 years, God had held to his promise, and the colonists had as well: live uncorrupted lives or suffer divine wrath. But on April 22, 1721, the arrival of one doomed ship in Boston's harbors unleashed a deadly smallpox epidemic that put this covenant to its greatest test. The fierce debate over how to combat the growing tragedy quickly became a battle between faith and reason that would reshape the colonists' view of their destiny, setting a new course for America and inciting the first drumbeats of revolution. The Pox and the Covenant is the story of well-known figures such as Cotton Mather, James Franklin, and a young Benjamin Franklin struggling to fight for their cause amidst the chaos of death and panic -- although not always for the side one would expect - Back cover.