Hardback | |
April 11, 2014 | |
9781421412757 | |
English | |
312 | |
5 maps | |
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6.13 Inches (US) | |
1.3 Pounds (US) | |
1.3 Pounds (US) | |
$57.00 USD, £42.00 GBP | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Electronic book text | |
April 23, 2014 | |
9781421412764 | |
9781421412757 | |
English | |
312 | |
5 maps | |
9.25 Inches (US) | |
6.13 Inches (US) | |
$57.00 USD, £42.00 GBP | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Securing the West
Politics, Public Lands, and the Fate of the Old Republic, 1785–1850
Americans expected the country to grow westward, but on the details of that growth they held strongly different opinions. What part should Congress play in this development? How much should public land cost? What of the families and businesses left behind, and how would society's institutions be established in the West? What of the premature settlers, the "squatters" who challenged the rule of law while epitomizing democratic daring?
Taking a broad approach, Van Atta addresses three interrelated queries: First, how did competing economic beliefs and divergent cultural mandates influence the various outcomes of this broad debate over the means, timing, and purposes of settling the trans-Appalachian West? Second, what alternative visions of western society lay behind the battles among policy makers within the government and the interested parties who would sway them? Third, why did settlement of the West take such a different course in the end from that which the earliest leaders of the republic intended?
This story explores dimensions of the federal lands question that other historians have minimized or left out entirely. Van Atta draws upon a range of sources known to have influenced the public discourse, including congressional debates, committee reports, and correspondence; editorial writings by the famous and unknown; and news coverage in various widely circulated newspapers and magazines of the period.
Much of the attention focuses on Congress—the elected leaders who advocated divergent plans about western lands. In Congress, more than any other place, public leaders articulated basic concerns about the character, structure, direction, and destiny of society in the early United States.
By 1830, many other important national concerns had become critically entangled with land disposition, creating points of ideological tension among rival regions, parties, and interests in the early years of the republic—particularly in Jacksonian America.
About the Author
Reviews
"Solidly researched, well written, and cogently argued."—Robert M. Owens, Middle West Review
"...[Securing the West] quite ably and engagingly synthesize[s] and present[s] the concerns of policy makers while avoiding what might have been a parade of subtly differing public land distribution bills."—Tamara Venit Shelton, The Journal of American History
"A compelling account of how this issue [of land] went to the heart of the competing, shifting visions Americans had of their new country and its future."—American Historical Review
"Van Atta's emphasis on the social implications of the development of western land policies makes several important historiographic contributions . . . . Most important, Van Atta's analysis of the larger moral and cultural nuances involved in western land politics further illustrates the significance of the region in the development of the United States."—Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
Hardback | |
April 11, 2014 | |
9781421412757 | |
English | |
312 | |
5 maps | |
9.25 Inches (US) | |
6.13 Inches (US) | |
1.3 Pounds (US) | |
1.3 Pounds (US) | |
$57.00 USD, £42.00 GBP | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Electronic book text | |
April 23, 2014 | |
9781421412764 | |
9781421412757 | |
English | |
312 | |
5 maps | |
9.25 Inches (US) | |
6.13 Inches (US) | |
$57.00 USD, £42.00 GBP | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Other Titles by John R. Van Atta
Charging Up San Juan Hill
Wolf by the Ears
Other Titles from Reconfiguring American Political History
Bennington and the Green Mountain Boys
Burdens of War
Protesting Affirmative Action
Other Titles in HISTORY / United States / Revolutionary Period (1775-1800)
Benjamin Lincoln and the American Revolution
The Brave New World, third edition
The Contagion of Liberty
Other Titles in History of the Americas
The Perils of Race-Thinking
Black Health in the South
Land and Liberty