ABSTRACT

In its early years, the American Republic was far from stable. Conflict and violence, including major land wars, were defining features of the period from the Revolution to the outbreak of the Civil War, as struggles over who would control land and labor were waged across the North American continent. The World of the Revolutionary American Republic brings together original essays from an array of scholars to illuminate the issues that made this era so contested.

Drawing on the latest research, the essays examine the conflicts that occurred both within the Republic and between the different peoples inhabiting the continent. Covering issues including slavery, westward expansion, the impact of Revolutionary ideals, and the economy, this collection provides a diverse range of insights into the turbulent era in which the United States emerged as a nation.

With contributions from leading scholars in the field, both American and international, The World of the Revolutionary American Republic is an important resource for any scholar of early America.

chapter Chapter One|24 pages

Introduction: Conflict for a Continent

Land, Labor, and the State in the First American Republic

part Section I|70 pages

Origins of the Revolutionary American Republic

chapter Chapter Two|27 pages

Producing Empire

The British Empire in Theory and Practice

part Section II|197 pages

The Quest for Continental Control

chapter Chapter Five|19 pages

Independence for Whom?

Expansion and Conflict in the South and Southwest

chapter Chapter Six|18 pages

Independence for Whom?

Expansion and Conflict in the Northeast and Northwest

chapter Chapter Seven|31 pages

“Such Things Ought Not to be”

The American Revolution and the First National Great Depression

chapter Chapter Nine|23 pages

The Empire of Liberty

Land of the Free and Home of the Slave

chapter Chapter Ten|28 pages

Atlantic Antislavery, American Abolition

The Problem of Slavery in the United States in an Age of Disruption, 1770–1808

chapter Chapter Twelve|24 pages

The Theory of Civilized Sentiments

Emotion and the Creation of the United States

part Section III|164 pages

The Emergence of a Continental Hegemon

chapter Chapter Thirteen|29 pages

Natural Rights and National Greatness

Economic Ideology and Social Policy in the American States, 1780s–1820s

chapter Chapter Fifteen|24 pages

The “High-Road to a Slave Empire”

Conflict and the Growth and Expansion of Slavery on the North American Continent

chapter Chapter Sixteen|21 pages

Dissenters from the Mainstream

The National and International Dimensions of Evangelical Reform

chapter Chapter Seventeen|23 pages

The Pendulum Swings

The Rise of Antislavery Sentiment Between the Revolution and Civil War

chapter Chapter Eighteen|19 pages

The World the Slaveholders Craved

Proslavery Internationalism in the 1850s

chapter Chapter Nineteen|24 pages

The Republic in Peril

Expansion, the Politics of Slavery, and the Crisis of the 1850s