Nevertheless, its previous popularity and influence require attention. At a time when the image of America as a separate national entity was being formed, the book's optimistic faith in the future of America appealed to thousands and was disseminated to tens of thousands.
The Carver controversy involves the man as well as the book, and there remain areas of his life upon which biographers have not agreed. Most, however, have agreed that he was born in 1710 in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and lived there for about eight years until moving with his family to Canterbury, Connecticut. His parents, David and Hannah Dyer Carver, came from good families, and his father was a man of modest wealth and influence, having been elected to several offices in both Weymouth and Canterbury. Carver's specific education is still unknown, but, because of his family's position, he is thought to have received as good an education as was available in the region. Although he is believed by some to have only been an illiterate shoemaker and soldier (and indeed he was both cobbler and militaryman), recent biographers have proven that he was literate, that he taught himself mapmaking and surveying, and that he possibly studied medicine for a short time.
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