The Nation Takes Shape: 1789-1837University of Chicago Press, 1959 - 222 pages Marcus Cunliffe, whom the Washington Post and Times Herald calls "a master historian capable of seeing his subject whole," has written a cogent and revealing study of America's first half-century under the federal Constitution. Bounded by the first Washington Administration and the last Jackson Administration, this is the period in which democracy grew and shaped the nation. It witnessed the launching of the federal government; the expansion of the frontier; the establishment of a party system; the enunciation of a foreign policy; the manufacture of the symbols of nationalism; and the forging of the arguments of sectionalism. Most important, Mr. Cunliffe writes, "the American character seems to have been formed in essence within a generation of George Washington's accession to the Presidency." "An urbane, stimulating, and admirably proportioned analysis. . . ."—Alexander DeConde, Wisconsin Magazine of History "What [Mr. Cunliffe] has done is to weave together and show the fertile interplay of the American dream and the American reality—and show how much the dream modified the reality. . . . an acute and elegant performance."—Times Literary Supplement |
Contents
I Half a Century of Progress | 1 |
Government Politics and Law | 11 |
Foreign Policy | 40 |
Territorial and Agricultural Expansion | 70 |
V Commerce and Industry | 96 |
VI Nationalism and Sectionalism | 122 |
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Aaron Burr acres Ameri American American democracy American history American national American political Andrew Jackson Anglo-American areas aristocracy Bancroft Bank became Britain British Buren Calhoun canals colonies commerce Congress Constitution cotton Court democratic Doctrine early economic England Erie Europe European executive farmers federal government Federalist Florida foreign policy France French frontier George Washington half-century Hamilton inaugurated independence Indian internal improvements interpretation Jacksonian Jacksonian Democracy Jay's Treaty Jefferson Jeffersonian John Adams John Quincy Adams Kentucky land later less Louisiana manufactures Martin Van Buren Massachusetts ment merchant million Mississippi Monroe Monroe Doctrine North Ohio Orleans party patriotic period Philadelphia Pinckney's Treaty polarities population President railroad Republican Revolution Revolutionary rivers roads Samuel F. B. Morse sectional seemed Senate settlement settlers slaves society South Carolina southern Spain Spanish steamboat tariff Tennessee territory Thomas tion tional Tocqueville trade Union United Vice-President Virginia vote Webster West western words York