Internal Improvement
National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States
Published on 26. March 2001
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-8078-2595-2 (ISBN)
Description
A new perspective on the transformation of the early American republic into a modern industrial nation When the people of British North America threw off their colonial bonds, they sought more than freedom from bad government: most of the founding generation also desired the freedom to create and enjoy good, popular, responsive government. This book traces the central issue on which early Americans pinned their hopes for positive government action - internal improvement. The nation's early republican governments undertook a wide range of internal improvement projects meant to assure Americans' security, prosperity, and enlightenment - from the building of roads, canals, and bridges to the establishment of universities and libraries. But competitive struggles eventually undermined the interstate and interregional cooperation required, and the public soured on the internal improvement movement.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chapel Hill
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
15 illustrations, 5 maps, notes, bibliography, index
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 146 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-8078-2595-2 (9780807825952)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
John Lauritz Larson, associate professor of history at Purdue University, is coeditor of the Journal of the Early Republic and author of the award-winning Bonds of Enterprise: John Murray Forbes and Western Development in America's Roilway Age.