Internal improvement : national public works and the promise of popular government in the early United States / John Lauritz Larson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Larson, John Lauritz, 1950-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Infrastructure (Economics)--Government policy--United States--History--19th century.

Infrastructure (Economics).

Public works--Government policy--United States--History--19th century.

Public works.

United States--Economic policy--To 1933.

United States.

United States--Economic conditions--To 1865.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (342 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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

Contents:

Acknowledgments; Introduction: An Experiment in Republicanism; 1. Designs of the Monied Gentry; 2. Towards a National Republican Alternative; 3. The Problems with State Initiatives; 4. The ""Progress"" of Consolidation; 5. Spoiling Internal Improvements; 6. State Initiatives Again; 7. Into the Railway Age; Epilogue: Designs of a New Monied Gentry; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [295]-318) and index.

ISBN:

9798890870988

9780807875643

0807875643

OCLC:

559361661