United States

Richard L. Blanco (ed.), The American Revolution, 1775–1783: An Encyclopedia, 2 vol. (1993), is a valuable reference source. Edward Countryman, The American Revolution (1985), considers American social history in the explanation of how American resistance developed. P.G.D. Thomas, British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis (1975), is a scholarly account of British objectives and methods, and The Townshend Duties Crisis (1987) is the most comprehensive account of this episode. Jerrilyn Greene Marston, King and Congress (1987), studies how Congress acquired formal “legitimacy” in the course of rebellion. Morton White, The Philosophy of the American Revolution (1978), analyzes the concepts that took shape in the Declaration of Independence. Jack N. Rakove, The Beginnings of National Politics (1979), interprets the complex politics of the Continental Congress. Willard M. Wallace J.R. Pole

The early federal republic

Peter S. Onuf, The Origins of the Federal Republic (1983), stresses the jurisdictional problems of relations among states and between states and the Confederation. Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (1969), provides a comprehensive “ideological” interpretation emphasizing the transformation of political thought into action. David F. Epstein, The Political Theory of The Federalist (1984); and the lengthy introduction to Cecelia M. Kenyon, The Antifederalists (1966, reprinted 1985), are excellent studies. Jackson Turner Main, The Antifederalists: Critics of the Constitution, 1781–1788 (1961, reprinted 1974), analyzes the social origins and aspirations of the Anti-Federalists. Joyce Appleby, Capitalism and a New Social Order (1984), argues that capitalism was seen as a liberating force by Jeffersonians as well as by Hamiltonians. Other studies of the period include Gerald Stourzh, Alexander Hamilton and the Idea of Republican Government (1970); James M. Banner, Jr., To the Hartford Convention: The Federalists and the Origins of Party Politics in Massachusetts, 1789–1815 (1970); John Zvesper, Political Philosophy and Rhetoric (1977); Richard Hofstadter, The Idea of a Party System (1969); and Noble E. Cunningham, The Jeffersonian Republicans (1957), The Process of Government Under Jefferson (1978), and The Jeffersonian Republicans in Power (1963). J.R. Pole

From 1816 to 1850

(The Era of Mixed Feelings): A comprehensive overview of the politics of this period is George Dangerfield, The Era of Good Feelings (1952, reprinted 1973). Shaw Livermore, Jr., The Twilight of Federalism: The Disintegration of the Federalist Party, 1815–1830 (1962, reissued 1972), is an excellent analysis. Glover Moore, The Missouri Controversy, 1819–1821 (1953, reissued 1967), skillfully untangles that complex problem.

(Economic development): Still valuable and informative are Bray Hammond, Banks and Politics in America, from the Revolution to the Civil War (1957, reissued 1967); Edward Pessen, Most Uncommon Jacksonians: The Radical Leaders of the Early Labor Movement (1967, reprinted 1970); and Walter Buckingham Smith, Economic Aspects of the Second Bank of the United States (1953, reissued 1969).

(Blacks, slave and free): Particularly noteworthy studies are Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (1974); Herbert G. Gutman, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750–1925 (1976); Leon F. Litwack, North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790–1860 (1961, reprinted 1970); and Ira Berlin, Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South (1974, reissued 1981).