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"United States-Territorial expansion"
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Inventing destiny : cultural explorations of US expansion
\"Conventional studies of US expansion have viewed the topic from political, diplomatic, economic, and military perspectives. In this collection, an interdisciplinary cast of scholars examine the subject from a variety of cultural perspectives, showing how narratives of empire and conquest formed in both low and high cultures. Many of the chapters will focus on the less remembered actors and outliers - anti-expansionists, Native Americans, Anglo-American women, and non-national expansionists - who significantly complicated the narratives of empire. The contributors examine a variety of source materials such as artwork, literature, and geospatial analysis alongside fresh readings of traditional historical texts. Instead of dwelling on the familiar narratives of \"manifest destiny\" or \"the vanishing Indian,\" Inventing Destiny identifies and explores the less-remembered fictions of expansion, seeks a better understanding of the anti-expansionist response, and uncovers the resistance of those who were victims of US territorial aggrandizement\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The American National State and the Early West
This book challenges the widely held myth that the American national state was weak in the early days of the republic. William H. Bergmann reveals how the federal government used its fiscal and military powers, as well as bureaucratic authority, to enhance land acquisitions, promote infrastructure development and facilitate commerce and communication in the early trans-Appalachian West. Energetic federal state-building efforts prior to 1815 grew from national state security interests as Native Americans and British imperial designs threatened to unravel the republic. White Westerners and Western state governments partnered with the federal government to encourage commercial growth and emigration, to transform the borderland into a bordered land. Taking a regional approach, this work synthesizes the literatures of social history, political science and economic history to provide a new narrative of American expansionism, one that takes into account the unique historical circumstances in the Ohio Valley and the southern Great Lakes.
eBook
Patterns of empire : the British and American empires, 1688 to the present
\"Patterns of empire comprehensively examines the two most powerful empires in modern history: the United States and Britain. Challenging the popular theory that the American empire is unique, Patterns of empire shows how the policies, practices, forms, and historical dynamics of the American empire repeat those of the British, leading up to the present climate of economic decline, treacherous intervention in the Middle East, and overextended imperial confidence. A critical exercise in revisionist history and comparative social science, this book also offers a challenging theory of empire that recognizes the agency of non-Western peoples, the impact of global fields, and the limits of power\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Empire in retreat : the past, present, and future of the United States
No detailed description available for \"Empire in Retreat\".
eBook
Securing the West
A close look at westward expansion, federal lands, and American destiny in the early republic.
Few issues defined the period between American independence and the Mexican War more sharply than westward settlement and the role of the federal government in that expansion. In Securing the West, John R. Van Atta examines the visions of the founding generation and the increasing influence of ideological differences in the years after the peace of 1815.
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.
eBook
America : from white settlement to world hegemony
\"A major historical account of the evolution of American imperialism. The invasion and occupation of Iraq have sparked considerable discussion about the nature of American imperialism, but most of it is focused on the short term. The classical historical approach of this book provides a convincing and compelling analysis of the different phases of American imperialism, which have now led to America becoming a global hegemon without any serious rivals. Victor Kiernan, one of the world's most respected historians, has used his nuanced knowledge of history, literature and politics to trace the evolution of the American Empire: he includes accounts of relations between Indians and white settlers, readings of the work of Melville and Whitman, and an analysis of the way that money and politics became so closely intertwined. Eric Hobsbawm's preface provides an insight into his own thoughts on American imperialism, and a valuable introduction to Victor Kiernan's work. Together, they shed useful light on today's urgent debates about the uses and misuses of seemingly unlimited military power, a lack of respect for international agreements, and the right to 'pre-emptive defense'.\"--Publisher description.
Book
Reforming the World
Reforming the World offers a sophisticated account of how and why, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, American missionaries and moral reformers undertook work abroad at an unprecedented rate and scale. Looking at various organizations such as the Young Men's Christian Association and the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, Ian Tyrrell describes the influence that the export of American values had back home, and explores the methods and networks used by reformers to fashion a global and nonterritorial empire. He follows the transnational American response to internal pressures, the European colonies, and dynamic changes in global society.
eBook
Empires apart : a history of American and Russian imperialism
Landers shows how the broad sweep of American history follows a consistent path from the first settlers to the present day and, by comparing this with Russia's imperial path, demonstrates the true nature of American global ambitions.
BOOK
The Nation’s Crucible
In 1803 the United States purchased Louisiana from France. This seemingly simple acquisition brought with it an enormous new territory as well as the country's first large population of nonnaturalized Americans-Native Americans, African Americans, and Francophone residents. What would become of those people dominated national affairs in the years that followed. This book chronicles that contentious period from 1803 to 1821, years during which people proposed numerous visions of the future for Louisiana and the United States.
The Louisiana Purchase proved to be the crucible of American nationhood, Peter Kastor argues. The incorporation of Louisiana was among the most important tasks for a generation of federal policymakers. It also transformed the way people defined what it meant to be an American.
eBook