The bourgeois frontier : French towns, French traders, and American expansion / Jay Gitlin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gitlin, Jay.

Series:

Lamar series in western history

The Lamar series in Western history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

West (U.S.)--Ethnic relations.

West (U.S.).

West (U.S.)--History.

French--West (U.S.)--History.

French.

French Americans--West (U.S.)--History.

French Americans.

Frontier and pioneer life--West (U.S.).

Frontier and pioneer life.

Ethnic relations.

West United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 269 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, ©2010.

Summary:

Histories tend to emphasize conquest by Anglo-Americans as the driving force behind the development of the American West. In this fresh interpretation, Jay Gitlin argues that the activities of the French are crucial to understanding the phenomenon of westward expansion. The Seven Years War brought an end to the French colonial enterprise in North America, but the French in towns such as New Orleans, St. Louis, and Detroit survived the transition to American rule. French traders from Mid-America such as the Chouteaus and Robidouxs of St. Louis then became agents of change in the West, perfecting a strategy of "middle grounding" by pursuing alliances within Indian and Mexican communities in advance of American settlement and re-investing fur trade profits in land, town sites, banks, and transportation. "The Bourgeois Frontier" provides the missing French connection between the urban Midwest and western expansion.

"Histories tend to emphasize conquest by Anglo-Americans as the driving force behind the development of the American West. In this fresh interpretation, Jay Gitlin argues that the activities of the French are crucial to understanding the phenomenon of westward expansion. The Seven Years War brought an end to the French colonial enterprise in North America, but the French in towns such as New Orleans, St. Louis, and Detroit survived the transition to American rule. French traders from Mid-America such as the Chouteaus and Robidouxs of St. Louis then became agents of change in the West, perfecting a strategy of 'middle grounding' by pursuing alliances within Indian and Mexican communities in advance of American settlement and re-investing fur trade profits in land, town sites, banks, and transportation. The Bourgeois Frontier provides the missing French connection between the urban Midwest and western expansion."--Jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: The vanquished and the vanishing

Constructing the house of Chouteau : St. Louis

"We are well off that there are no Virginians in this quarter" : the two wests from 1763 to 1803

Surviving the transition to American rule

How the West was sold

Beyond St. Louis : negotiating the course of empire

Managing the tribe of Chouteau

"Avec bien du regret" : the Americanization of Creole St. Louis and French Detroit

"La conf<U+fffd>ed<U+fffd>eration perdue" : the legacy of francophone culture in mid-America

Conclusion.

"La confédération perdue" : the legacy of francophone culture in mid-America

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

HSP Copy: The de la Roche French North America Collection

ISBN:

9780300101188

030010118X

9780300168037

0300168039

OCLC:

318645759