Book contents
- The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations
- Series page
- The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Maps
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Introduction
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Origins of the American Empire and Union
- 2 A Perilous Union
- 3 Expansion, Embargo, and War
- 4 Claiming theHemisphere
- 5 Freedom’s Empire, at Home and Abroad
- 6 Expansionist Vistas
- 7 Bullying Britain, Conquering Mexico, Claiming the Canal
- 8 Disunion
- 9 The Imperial Crisis
- Bibliographic Essay
- Index
2 - A Perilous Union
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
Book contents
- The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations
- Series page
- The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Maps
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Introduction
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Origins of the American Empire and Union
- 2 A Perilous Union
- 3 Expansion, Embargo, and War
- 4 Claiming theHemisphere
- 5 Freedom’s Empire, at Home and Abroad
- 6 Expansionist Vistas
- 7 Bullying Britain, Conquering Mexico, Claiming the Canal
- 8 Disunion
- 9 The Imperial Crisis
- Bibliographic Essay
- Index
Summary
Victory over Great Britain brought forth a wave of proto-nationalist literature, much of it emerging from the nation's few institutions of higher learning. The immediate postwar period found the United States facing imposing challenges, both domestic and foreign, which threatened to shatter the unity essential to the nation's future. Americans did not let concerns about the French revolutionary experiment prevent them from attempting to profit from the European war. Facing challenges to their economic interests on the high seas, Americans also confronted an ongoing war with the Indians on the western frontier, especially in the Ohio Country. Wayne's defeat of the Miami Confederacy in August 1794 had paved the way for the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, finally securing the Ohio Country for the United States. The crushing of the whiskey rebels in November 1794 had served notice far beyond western Pennsylvania that the new sovereignty established by the Constitution had teeth and was not to be taken lightly.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations , pp. 34 - 63Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013