American Nationalisms: Imagining Union in the Age of Revolutions, 1783–1833

Description

America was born in an age of political revolution throughout the Atlantic world, a period when the very definition of 'nation' was transforming. Benjamin E. Park traces how Americans imagined novel forms of nationality during the country's first five decades within the context of European discussions taking place at the same time. Focusing on three case studies - Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina - Park examines the developing practices of nationalism in three specific contexts. He argues for a more elastic connection between nationalism and the nation-state by demonstrating that ideas concerning political and cultural allegiance to a federal body developed in different ways and at different rates throughout the nation. American Nationalisms explores how ideas of nationality permeated political disputes, religious revivals, patriotic festivals, slavery debates, and even literature. Cover ......Page 1 Half-title page......Page 3 Title page......Page 5 Copyright page......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Prologue......Page 11 Acknowledgments......Page 14 List of Abbreviations......Page 18 Introduction......Page 19 Part I Imagining Union ......Page 43 1 Imagining Nationalism in an Age of Statehood......Page 45 2 Local Preachers, Thanksgiving Sermons, and New England’s National Covenant......Page 87 Part II Imagining Disunion......Page 131 3 (Re)Constructing State, Nation, and Empire in the Second War with Great Britain......Page 133 4 Liberty, Slavery, and the Rise of Sectionalism......Page 174 5 The Nullification Crisis and the Fracturing of National Interests......Page 212 Epilogue: The Boundaries of America’s Nationalist Imagination......Page 260 Index......Page 264