Trans-Appalachian Frontier, Third Edition

Malcolm J. Rohrbough

Description

A thorough revision of a classic book about America's first frontier

http://newbooksinhistory.com/2008/01/25/malcolm-rohrbough-the-trans-appalachian-frontier-people-societies-and-institutions-1775-1850/

The first American frontier lay just beyond the Appalachian Mountains and along the Gulf Coast. Here, successive groups of pioneers built new societies and developed new institutions to cope with life in the wilderness. In this thorough revision of his classic account, Malcolm J. Rohrbough tells the dramatic story of these men and women from the first Kentucky settlements to the closing of the frontier. Rohrbough divides his narrative into major time periods designed to establish categories of description and analysis, presenting case studies that focus on the county, the town, the community, and the family, as well as politics and urbanization. He also addresses Spanish, French, and Native American traditions and the anomalous presence of African slaves in the making of this story.

Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
A Note on Citations, Quotations, Maps, and Place Names

Introduction

Part I. Across the Mountains
1. The Struggle for Security
2. The Search for Stability
3. Security and Stability in the Territory Northwest of the Ohio

Part II. The Widening Frontier, 1795–1815
4. The Reach of Government and the Authority of Law Spread across the Western Country
5. Diverse Economies Moving toward Commercial Ends
6. Many Varied Societies Emerge across the Western Country

Part III. The First Great Migration, 1815–1830
7. Across the Old Northwest and into Missouri
8. The Flowering of the Cotton Frontier

Part IV. The Enduring Frontiers
9. Michigan: The Great Lakes Frontier
10. Florida: A Sectional Frontier
11. Arkansas: A Frontier More West than South

Part V. The Second Great Migration, 1830–1850
12. The New Counties of Alabama and Mississippi: A Frontier More South than West
13. The Last Frontier of the Old Northwest: Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin

Part VI. The Trans-Appalachian West and the Nation
14. Villages, Towns, and Cities Spread across the Western Country
15. Changing Political Patterns across Three Generations
16. The Trans-Appalachian West and the Nation

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Mensajería instantánea
• General officer
• History of the Americas
• General
• United States
• KS
• IL
• ND
• IN
• NE
• OH
• MN
• SD
• MO
• MI

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 09 janvier 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253000101
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Trans-Appalachian Frontier
A H ISTORY OF THE T RANS -A PPALACHIAN F RONTIER

Walter Nugent and Malcolm Rohrbough, eds .
Trans-Appalachian Frontier

People, Societies, and Institutions, 1775-1850
Third Edition
M ALCOLM J. R OHRBOUGH

I NDIANA U NIVERSITY P RESS B LOOMINGTON AND I NDIANAPOLIS
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street
Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA
http://iupress.indiana.edu
Telephone orders 800-842-6796
Fax orders 812-855-7931
Orders by e-mail [e-mail]
2008 by Malcolm J. Rohrbough
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rohrbough, Malcolm J. Trans-Appalachian frontier : people, societies, and institutions, 1775-1850 / Malcolm J. Rohrbough. - 3rd ed. p. cm. - (A history of the trans-Appalachian frontier)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-34932-3 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-21932-9 (pbk.)
1. Northwest, Old-History-1775-1865. 2. Frontier and pioneer life-Northwest, Old. 3. Southwest, Old-History. 4. Frontier and pioneer life-Southwest, Old. 5. Appalachian Region-History. 6. Frontier and pioneer life-Appalachian Region.
I. Title.
F484.3.R64 2007
977 .02-dc22
2007011632
1 2 3 4 5 13 12 11 10 09 08
Dedicated to the pioneers of a new generation:
Julia
Cate
Devon
Charlie
Frances
Maya
Christina
Eva
Dylan
and to the scouts of the twenty-first century: Lucas and Cyrus
Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
A Note on Citations, Quotations, Maps, and Place Names
I NTRODUCTION
Part I. Across the Mountains
1.
T HE S TRUGGLE FOR S ECURITY
2.
T HE S EARCH FOR S TABILITY
3.
S ECURITY AND S TABILITY IN THE T ERRITORY N ORTHWEST OF THE O HIO
Part II. The Widening Frontier, 1795-1815
4.
T HE R EACH OF G OVERNMENT AND THE A UTHORITY OF L AW S PREAD ACROSS THE W ESTERN C OUNTRY
5.
D IVERSE E CONOMIES M OVING TOWARD C OMMERCIAL E NDS
6.
M ANY V ARIED S OCIETIES E MERGE ACROSS THE W ESTERN C OUNTRY
Part III. The First Great Migration, 1815-1830
7.
A CROSS THE O LD N ORTHWEST AND INTO M ISSOURI
8.
T HE F LOWERING OF THE C OTTON F RONTIER
Part IV. The Enduring Frontiers
9.
M ICHIGAN : T HE G REAT L AKES F RONTIER
10.
F LORIDA: A S ECTIONAL F RONTIER
11.
A RKANSAS : A F RONTIER M ORE W EST THAN S OUTH
Part V. The Second Great Migration, 1830-1850
12.
T HE N EW C OUNTIES OF A LABAMA AND M ISSISSIPPI: A F RONTIER M ORE S OUTH THAN W EST
13.
T HE L AST F RONTIER OF THE O LD N ORTHWEST : I LLINOIS , I OWA, AND W ISCONSIN
Part VI. The Trans-Appalachian West and the Nation
14.
V ILLAGES , T OWNS, AND C ITIES S PREAD ACROSS THE W ESTERN C OUNTRY
15.
C HANGING P OLITICAL P ATTERNS ACROSS T HREE G ENERATIONS
16.
T HE T RANS -A PPALACHIAN W EST AND THE N ATION
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
I shall begin by recognizing a deep obligation to three friends and colleagues. Walter Nugent, University of Notre Dame, read the entire draft of this manuscript. His wisdom and insight have immeasurably improved the final version. Leslie Schwalm, University of Iowa, read the chapters on the expansion of the frontier across the South. Her thoughtful comments have helped me understand the relationship among landscape, staple crop agriculture, and the institution of slavery in the evolution of the frontier in the South over three generations. I am also indebted to Sarah Hanley, whose methodological stance on thick description and contested events uncovers twists and turns that would be otherwise left uncharted. Her work on Early Modern France is an inspiration for this study.
Three graduate students in the Department of History at the University of Iowa have assisted in important ways. Anita Gaul and Kerima Lewis assembled a bibliography of recent primary and secondary literature; Uka Kishida checked the citations. Quinten Taylor, an undergraduate in the Honors Program, helped in the final preparation of the manuscript.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Graduate College at the University of Iowa have supported my scholarship over the years in a number of ways. The University of Iowa has always been committed to funding research leaves for the faculty across disciplines, has treated the awards of outside grants to faculty members as a partnership in which to invest, and takes the time to celebrate the grants and prizes awarded to faculty for scholarly projects undertaken and completed. I am grateful for the support tendered by the College and University in league with my grants recently awarded from The Camargo Foundation, Cassis, France, and The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Robert Sloan at Indiana University Press enthusiastically supported a revised second edition that would incorporate the new scholarship of the last thirty years in the field. Miki Bird managed the preparation of the unwieldy manuscript with efficiency and good humor. Carol Kennedy s careful editing of the manuscript improved its fluency and saved me from numerous errors of omission and commission.
The Huntington Library has provided a fine place for scholarly research and writing and for the fruitful exchange of ideas with colleagues, including Stephen Aron, Hal Barron, William Deverell, Philip Hoffman, Michael Johnson, Karen Lystra, Elaine Tyler May, Lary May, Peter Mancall, Katherine Norberg, Robert Smith, and Samuel Truitt. I am particularly indebted to Robert C. Ritchie, Director of Research; Peter Blodgett, Curator of Western History Manuscripts; Jennifer Watts, Curator of Photographs; Susi Krasnoo, Administrative Assistant; and, Shelley Bennett, Curator of English and European Art for important contributions that have furthered my work at hand and in progress.
Peter Rohrbough, Justin Rohrbough, and Elizabeth Rohrbough have interjected into this book their own intellectual expertise from linguistics, statistics, and law, while at the same time, pursuing their own lives and careers. Conversations with them are always rewarding.
Faith Rohrbough, Constance Rohrbough, Beatrice Rohrbough Carlson, and Robert Carlson have long been interested in studies of the American West, past and present, and willing to share views on the topic; and Mianne Hanley and William Murphy have offered excellent advice and counsel at critical moments.
In the interval that has passed since the first edition of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier was published, a new generation of historical figures has appeared on the scene. I have identified them in the Dedication to this book. They will encounter new frontiers that the two generations behind them can scarcely begin to imagine.
MJR
The Huntington Library
March 2007
Abbreviations
Books and Periodicals
AHQ
Alabama Historical Quarterly
AI
Annals of Iowa
AJLH
American Journal of Legal History
AR
Alabama Review
ArHQ
Arkansas Historical Quarterly
FCHQ
Filson Club Historical Quarterly
FHQ
Florida Historical Quarterly
IJH
Iowa Journal of History
IJHP
Iowa Journal of History and Politics
IMH
Indiana Magazine of History
JAH
Journal of American History
JISHS
Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society
JMH
Journal of Mississippi History
JSH
Journal of Southern History
LH
Louisiana History
LHQ
Louisiana Historical Quarterly
M-A
Mid-America
MH
Michigan History
MHM
Michigan History Magazine
MHR
Missouri Historical Review
MPHC
Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections
MVHR
Mississippi Valley Historical Review
OAHQ
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
OHQ
Ohio Historical Quarterly
RKSHS
Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society
SAQ
South Atlantic Quarterly
THM
Tennessee Historical Magazine
THQ
Tennessee Historical Quarterly
TP
Territorial Papers of the United States , ed. Clarence E. Carter and John Porter Bloom (27 vols. to date, Washington, D.C., 1934-)
WMH
Wisconsin Magazine of History
Manuscript Depositories and Microfilm Collections
ADAH
Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery
AHC
Arkansas History Commission, Little Rock
CHS
Chicago Historical Society, Chicago
ESR
Early State Records on Microfilm, Library of Congress
HRS
Historical Records Survey, a division of the Works Progress Administration
IHS
Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis
IHS-U
Illinois Historical Survey, University of Illinois Library, Urbana
I