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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 1763The Forks of the OhioThe Shenandoah Country and the TennesseeThe Rear of the RevolutionThe Land ProblemCreation of the Public DomainThe National Land SystemThe Old NorthwestThe Western BoundariesThe First New StatesPolitical Theories of the FrontierJeffersonian DemocracyThe Frontier of 1800Ohio: The Clash of PrinciplesThe Purchase of LouisianaProblems of the Southwest BorderThe Bonds of UnityThe Wabash Frontier: Tecumseh, 1811The Western War of 1812Stabilizing the FrontierThe Great MigrationStatehood on the Ohio: Indiana and IllinoisThe Cotton Kingdom: Mississippi and AlabamaMissouri: The New SectionalismPublic Land ReformFrontier FinanceThe American SystemJacksonian DemocracyThe East, and the Western MarketsThe Western Internal ImprovementsThe Permanent Indian Frontier, 1825-1841The Mississippi Valley BoomThe Border States: Michigan and ArkansasThe Independent State of Texas1837: The Prostrate WestThe Trail to Santa FeThe Settlement of OregonThe “State” of Deseret *The War with MexicoThe Conquest of CaliforniaFar West and PoliticsPreemptionThe Frontier of the FortiesThe Railroad AgeLand Grants and the Western RoadsKansas-Nebraska and the Indian Country“Pike’s Peak or Bust!”The Frontier of the Mineral EmpireThe Overland RouteThe Public Lands: Wide OpenThe Plains in the Civil WarThe Union Pacific RailroadThe Disruption of the TribesThe Panic of 1873Frontier PanaceasThe Cow CountryThe Closed FrontierThe Admission of the “Omnibus” StatesThe Disappearance of the Frontier
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