History of the American Frontier - 1763-1893

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History For many years, a single volume covering the "History of the West" did not exist. Paxson’s masterwork rectifies this problem – offering an essential, sweeping account of the American West and westward expansion from 1763-1893. The American pioneer is followed to every frontier for nearly 150 years across fifty-nine chapters. Full of world-class insight, Paxson masterfully paints a picture of how the land mass of the United States was settled – starting with English settlers in New England to the wayward expansion across the continent and ending with the sunny shores of California. Paxson’s literary genius does not shine in quotations from secondary and source material; he has made his material a part of himself. Indeed, rather than conforming to a social history, Paxson takes a historical, geographic, and pragmatic view of Westward expansion. He masterfully covers American history from the War for Independence to the Louisiana Purchase, conflicts with Native Americans and Civil War, Presidential edicts from Washington to Roosevelt, and even offers keen insight into the little-studied intricacies of frontier finance and the inside workings of canal and railroad corporations. “Future historians will gratefully remember Mr. Paxson for essaying a task which others had either shirked or felt themselves incompetent to perform.” This is a must-read for any student of American history. About the Author: Frederic Logan Paxson was an American historian, President of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, and possessed undergraduate and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a master's from Harvard University. As a historian, he was an authority on the American frontier and won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for this work. Chapters of this work Include: The American Frontier of 1763 The Forks of the Ohio The Shenandoah Country and the Tennessee The Rear of the Revolution The Land Problem Creation of the Public Domain The National Land System The Old Northwest The Western Boundaries The First New States Political Theories of the Frontier Jeffersonian Democracy The Frontier of 1800 Ohio: The Clash of Principles The Purchase of Louisiana Problems of the Southwest Border The Bonds of Unity The Wabash Frontier: Tecumseh, 1811 The Western War of 1812 Stabilizing the Frontier The Great Migration Statehood on the Ohio: Indiana and Illinois The Cotton Kingdom: Mississippi and Alabama Missouri: The New Sectionalism Public Land Reform Frontier Finance The American System Jacksonian Democracy The East, and the Western Markets The Western Internal Improvements The Permanent Indian Frontier, 1825-1841 The Mississippi Valley Boom The Border States: Michigan and Arkansas The Independent State of Texas 1837: The Prostrate West The Trail to Santa Fe The Settlement of Oregon The “State” of Deseret * The War with Mexico The Conquest of California Far West and Politics Preemption The Frontier of the Forties The Railroad Age Land Grants and the Western Roads Kansas-Nebraska and the Indian Country “Pike’s Peak or Bust!” The Frontier of the Mineral Empire The Overland Route The Public Lands: Wide Open The Plains in the Civil War The Union Pacific Railroad The Disruption of the Tribes The Panic of 1873 Frontier Panaceas The Cow Country The Closed Frontier The Admission of the “Omnibus” States The Disappearance of the Frontier View Less